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JAMES   BUCHANAN 
AND  HIS  CABINET 

ON   THE   EVE    OF   SECESSION 


PHILIP  GERALD  AUCHAMPAUGH,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  History,  State  Teacher's  College 
Duluth,  Minnesota 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 
1926 


Copyright,  1926 


PHILIP  GERALD  AUCHAMPAUGH 


UNCASTEH    PRESS,    INC. 
LANCASTER.    PA. 


To 
MY  WIFE  AND  PARENTS 


<r~ 


INTRODUCTION  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

For  nearly  a  decade  I  have  had  an  interest  in  the  career  of 
James  Buchanan.  Phases  of  his  life  were  the  subject  of  research 
at  Syracuse  and  Clark  Universities  while  studying  for  my  master's 
and  doctor's  degree.  Since  then  my  interest  has  continued.  The 
partial  outcome  of  these  pursuits  is  this  small  volume  containing 
some  of  the  results  of  my  researches.  It  is  intended  to  supple- 
ment the  able  work  of  George  Ticknor  Curtis  written  some  forty 
years  ago.  Its  purpose  is  not  to  please,  but  to  attempt  to  give  a 
fairer  and  more  sympathetic  account  of  President  Buchanan  and 
his  Administration  than  is  usually  available  to  the  general  his- 
torian. 

A  complete  list  of  all  who  have  aided  me  in  my  work  would  be 
impossible.  Among  those  who  have  given  me  of  their  time  and 
advice,  are  Dr.  George  H.  Blakeslee  of  Clark  University,  where 
I  enjoyed  the  Fellowship  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society ; 
Dr.  Alexander  C.  Flick,  former  Head  of  the  History  Department 
of  Syracuse  University,  now  State  Historian  of  New  York ;  Dr. 
Edwin  P.  Tanner,  Professor  of  American  History,  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity; Dr.  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  President  Emeritus  of  William  and 
Mary  College;  and  Dr.  Findlay  C.  Crawford,  Professor  of  Politi- 
cal Science,  Syracuse  University. 

From  the  staffs  of  the  Manuscript  Division  of  the  Library  of 
Congress,  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  of  Worcester,  Mas- 
sachusetts, Clark  University  Library,  the  Manuscript  Division 
of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  State  Library  at 
Richmond,  Virginia,  I  have  received  the  most  kind  and  courteous 
co-operation. 


Philip  G.  Auchampaugh 


Duluth,  Minnesota, 
September  i,  1926. 


CONTENTS 

Page 
Chapter  I.  James  Buchanan,  His  Works  and  His  Times.  .  I 
Scope  of  the  Study — The  Difficulties  in  Understanding  the  Middle 
Period — Writers  of  History — Back  to  Yesterday  Afternoon — Hos- 
tile Critics  of  Buchanan — Influences  of  Buchanan's  Childhood — Col- 
lege Days — Studies — Buchanan  as  a  Lawyer — Defending  Judge 
Franklin — Practice — Thrift  and  Integrity — The  25th  Section  of  the 
Judiciary  Act  Saved — Buchanan  and  the  Supreme  Court — Buchanan 
as  a  Political  Leader — His  Motives  for  Entering  that  Field — The 
Issues  in  Pennsylvania — Reasons  for  Buchanan's  Nomination  to  the 
Presidency — Why  he  Accepted  the  Nomination — The  Matter  of  the 
Patronage — Buchanan  as  a  Diplomat — The  Russian  Mission — Anglo- 
American  Relations — Buchanan's  Far  Eastern  Policy — Judge 
Moore's  Estimate — Buchanan  and  Franklin — Affairs  in  Mexico — 
Buchanan  and  the  Alaskan  Purchase — Buchanan  as  a  Public  Speaker 
— The  Presidency — The  Slavery  Issue — Buchanan  on  Abolition — 
Slavery  in  1850 — Buchanan,  State  Rights  and  Southern  Rights. 

Chapter  II.     Some  Aspects  of  the  Kansas  Problem 21 

The  Scope  of  the  Chapter — The  Northern  Version  of  the  Problem 
— The  Southern  View — Buchanan  among  the  Prophets — The 
Kansas  Situation  in  1857 — Governor  Walker  Displeases  the  South- 
ern Democracy — Walker's  Political  Ambitions — Walker's  Acts  in 
Kansas — Walker  Joins  the  Opposition — He  Fails  to  Achieve  His 
Ambitions — An  Analysis  of  the  LeComption  Constitution  in  Its 
Relation  to  Slavery  in  Kansas — Buchanan  and  Slavery  in  Kansas 
— Buchanan's  Political  Ideas  as  Applied  to  the  Situation — His 
Attitude  towards  the  Changes  after  1850 — The  Supreme  Court 
and  their  Decision — The  Relation  of  the  Decision  towards  the 
Administration  Policy  in  Kansas — Buchanan  and  Southern  Rights 
— The  Parties  on  the  Issue — Reports  from  the  Territory — The  Op- 
position to  the  Constitution — The  Toombs  Amendment :  The  Eng- 
lish Bill — Douglas  Refuses  the  Peace  Pipe — Douglas  rather  than 
Kansas  the  Cause  for  the  Divided  Party — The  Lull  before  the 
Storm. 

Chapter  III.     Buchanan's  Ministers 65 

Buchanan's  Ministers  as  a  Factor  in  his  Policy — Sources  of  In- 
formation— Relations  of  each  of  the  Members  of  the  Cabinet 
with  the  President  on  the  Eve  of  Secession — Cobb,  Thomas,  Dix, 
Cass,   Stanton,    Holt,   King,    Toucey,    Floyd,    Black,    Thompson — 


viii  CONTENTS 

Buchanan's  Valuation  of  his  Cabinet — His  Contact  with  the  Lead- 
ers of  the  Democracy. 

Chapter  IV.     Buchanan's  Policy,  1 860-1861 130 

Buchanan's  Policy  from  November  i860  to  January  1,  1861 — 
Cabinet  Ministers  and  Councils — Preparing  the  Message — The 
Message,  an  Analysis  in  the  Light  of  the  Past,  Present,  and  Future 
— The  Question  of  Fort  Sumter — Floyd  and  Buchanan — The  Posi- 
tion of  the  Government  Legally  Incorrect — The  role  of  Major 
Anderson  and  its  Effect  on  the  Administration — The  Critical  Days 
of  December  and  their  Effect  on  the  President's  Course. 

Chapter  V.     The  Passing  of  an  Era 173 

Preparation  of  the  Message  of  January  8th — The  Changed  Con- 
ditions and  the  President's  Policy — The  Message  and  Its  Effect — 
Evidences  of  the  Continued  Adherence  of  Buchanan  to  his  Earlier 
Views — The  Peace  Conference,  its  Effect  on  the  President's  Policy, 
its  Course,  Cause  of  Failure — Separation  of  Buchanan  from  the 
South,  its  Cause  and  Degree — The  Inauguration  of  Lincoln — 
Buchanan's  Return  to  Wheatland — Policy  of  the  New  Adminis- 
tration— Buchanan's  Position  During  the  War. 

Chapter  VI.     Some  Salient  Points  and  Conclusions 190 

Some  Salient  Points  and  Conclusions — Buchanan's  Policy  a  Suc- 
cess— His  Characteristics — Economic  Interests — Two  Vital  Factors 
of  Conduct,  Political  Ideals  and  Religious  Convictions — The 
Theory  of  Natural  Rights — The  Machinery  of  Union — State  Rights 
in  1867 — The  Federal  Compact,  the  True  Basis  of  the  Union  as 
Instituted  by  the  Founders — Buchanan's  Religious  Nature  and 
Its  Inevitable  Influence  on  His  Policy — The  Other  Course  Psy- 
chologically Possible — Observations  on  the  Civil  War — A  Tribute 
and  an  Appeal. 

Bibliography  : 

A.  Unpublished   Manuscript   Collections 202 

B.  Published  Personalia 202 

C.  Periodicals   203 

D.  Pamphlets    204 

E.  General  Works,  Biographies,  and  Reminiscences.  .  .  .  205 

F.  Official  and  Miscellaneous 209 


TABLE  OF  PRINCIPAL  ABBREVIATIONS 

Moore:  "  Works  of  James  Buchanan,"  edited  by  J.  B.  Moore,  12 

vols.,  Lippincott,  1908,  1912. 
Buchanan :    "  Buchanan's  Administration  on  the  Eve  of  the  Re- 
bellion," James  Buchanan,  Lippincott,  1866. 
Curtis :   "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  George  T.  Curtis,  Harper  & 

Brothers,  1883. 
A.  H.  A. :   American  Historical  Association  Reports. 
A.  H.  R. :  American  Historical  Review. 
Covode:    House  Reports,  36th  Congress,   1st  Session,  No.  648. 

The  report  on  the  Covode  Investigation. 
Horton :    "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  R.  G.  Horton,  Derby  & 

Jackson,  1850. 
H.  S.  P. :   Manuscripts  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 

at  Philadelphia. 
L.  C. :    Manuscripts  from  the  Library  of  Congress,  Washington, 

D.  C. 
Irelan :    "  Our  Presidents  and  Their  Administrations,"  Vol.  XV, 

John  Robert  Irelan,  Fairbanks  and  Palmer,  Chicago,  1888. 


CHAPTER  ONE 

James  Buchanan,  His  Work  and  His  Times 

Scope  of  the  Study — The  Difficulties  in  Understanding  the  Middle 
Period — Writers  of  History — Back  to  Yesterday  Afternoon — Hos- 
tile Critics  of  Buchanan — Influences  of  Buchanan's  Childhood ;  Col- 
lege Days;  Studies — Buchanan  as  a  Lawyer — Defending  Judge 
Franklin — Practice — Thrift  and  Integrity — The  25th  Section  of  the 
Judiciary  Act  Saved — Buchanan  and  the  Supreme  Court — Buchanan 
as  a  Political  Leader — His  Motives  for  Entering  that  Field — The 
Issues  in  Pennsylvania — Reasons  for  Buchanan's  Nomination  to  the 
Presidency — Why  he  Accepted  the  Nomination — The  Matter  of  the 
Patronage — Buchanan  as  a  Diplomat — The  Russian  Mission — Anglo- 
American  Relations — Buchanan's  Far  Eastern  Policy — Judge 
Moore's  Estimate — Buchanan  and  Franklin — Affairs  in  Mexico — 
Buchanan  and  the  Alaskan  Purchase — Buchanan  as  a  Public  Speaker 
— The  Presidency — The  Slavery  Issue — Buchanan  on  Abolition — 
Slavery  in  1850 — Buchanan,  State  Rights  and  Southern  Rights. 

The  scope  of  this  study  will  be  to  set  forth  the  history  of  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  and  his  Cabinet  from  the  election  of  i860  to  the 
close  of  the  Administration.  It  has  been  prefaced  by  two  chap- 
ters. The  first  will  recapitulate  some  of  the  phases  of  Buchanan's 
long  career  in  public  service.  The  second  will  deal  with  some 
aspects  of  the  Kansas  Question. 

To  appreciate  the  psychology  of  the  elder  statesmen  of  Middle 
Period,  a  reader  must  project  himself  into  an  era  far  different 
from  that  of  the  present  time.  The  task  is  not  easy.  In  those 
days,  before  the  ideas  of  nationalism  were  dominant,  Presidents 
spoke  of  the  Union  as  a  confederacy.1     The  marks  of  a  frontier 

1  James  D.  Richardson,  Editor,  "  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents," 
Washington,  1908;  for  Jackson,  Vol.  II,  p.  437;  Harrison,  Vol.  IV,  p.  16; 
Polk,  ibid.,  p.  635 ;  for  Tyler,  John  A.  Wise,  "  Seven  Decades  of  Union," 
Philadelphia,  1881,  p.  251;  for  Buchanan,  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  175. 

Note:  The  term  "Border  State  men"  is  used  in  this  work  to  designate 
statesmen  coming  from  the  states  on  Mason-Dixon  line  who  favored  com- 
promise and  moderation.  Men  from  the  Gulf  States  on  the  one  hand,  and 
from  the  New  England  and  New  England  colonized  regions  on  the  other, 

1 


2  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

civilization  still  lingered  even  in  some  of  the  older  states,  not  to 
mention  the  "  New  West."  States  Rights  and  Strict  Construction 
were  the  creed  of  the  leading  party.  The  ideas  of  State  Sover- 
eignty and,  if  the  need  arose,  of  Secession,  were  publicly  avowed 
by  many  of  the  Senatorial  Nestors  at  Washington. 

For  our  day  the  men  who  fought  the  War  between  the  States 
are  not  the  lines  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  of  the  6o's.  Instead 
they  are  a  staff  of  arm-chair  Generals  of  History  Departments, 
who,  for  the  most  part,  have  taken  up  their  pens  for  the  winning 
side.  The  present  public  under  the  gentle  guidance  of  these 
valiant  men  will  finally  reach  the  point  where  they  will  marvel 
that  there  was  another  side  of  the  question.  The  defeated  parties 
in  civil  conflicts  are  twice  unfortunate,  once  on  the  field  of  arms, 
and  again  in  the  matter  of  bards,  for  few  minstrels  love  to  sing 
of  defeats.     As  a  result  few  remember  their  valor  or  their  ideals. 

Consequently  few  readers  have  any  interest  in  an  old  and  honest 
public  servant  who  served  a  cause  more  forgotten  than  the  "  Lost 
Cause  "  itself.  Little  wonder  that  he  has  been  painted  in  un- 
seemly colors  by  Northern  writers  favoring  ideas  to  which  he  ac- 
corded a  sincere  and  unceasing  opposition.  The  South  likewise, 
in  its  anxiety  to  place  its  own  cause  before  the  world,  had  often 
forgotten  the  men  of  the  border  states,  or  men  who  held  border 
state  ideas. 

In  order  to  understand  the  situation,  we  must  get  away  from 
present-day  industrialized  and  capitalized  nationalism,  which 
seems  very  much  in  vogue,  and  go  back  to  the  yesterday  at  sunset, 
or,  perhaps  to  the  yesterday  afternoon  of  our  history  in  which 
Buchanan's  career  was  largely  spent.  We  must  certainly  forget 
the  hosts  of  ideas  of  such  historians  as  Hay,la  Rhodes,2  and  Hart 3 
together   with    their   political    offspring,    the    late    Henry    Cabot 

were  often  more  extreme  in  the  views  they  held.  The  terms  South  and 
North  as  now  used  more  accurately  apply  to  these  more  extreme  groups. 

la  John  George  Nicolay  and  John  Hay,  "  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  New 
York,  1886. 

2  James  Ford  Rhodes,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  New  York,  1895. 

3  Albert  Bushnell  Hart  in  the  New  York  State  Teacher's  Association 
Magazine,  March,  191 5,  p.  51. 

David  Saville  Muzzey,  "  The  United  States  of  America,"  New  York,  1921, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  525,  526. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  3 

Lodge.4  The  last  mentioned  individual  once  delivered  a  tirade 
against  Buchanan  which  was  far  more  a  tribute  to  his  literary 
powers  than  his  historical  judgment.  The  speech  of  another  no 
less  loyal  Republican,  Joseph  Cannon,5  was  a  most  excellent  con- 
trast to  the  florid  and  biased  partisanship  so  much  in  evidence  in 
the  utterances  of  the  Massachusetts  Senator. 

Let  us  return  to  our  sketch  of  the  man  who  has  been  hailed  by 
some  as  the  Arnold  of  the  sixties,  or  by  others,  hardly  less  criti- 
cal, as  the  champion  putty-ball  of  the  White  House.  The  myths 
of  the  last  charge  are  scarcely  less  absurd  than  those  of  the  first. 
Messrs.  Nicolay  and  Hay  insinuated  that  all  Buchanan  ever  re- 
ceived was  due  to  political  senority,  and  that  he  was  actually  a 
huge  mass  of  inability.  Now  the  term  ability  is  very  vague.  No 
doubt  Buchanan  had  his  limitations,  but  even  the  Lincoln  cult  will 
at  times  admit  some  slight  flaw  in  their  own  idol.  Let  the  cold 
facts  of  Buchanan's  rise  to  political  power  tell  their  story. 

To  those  who  believe  that  early  childhood  determines  the  man, 
the  following  facts  will  be  of  interest.  Buchanan's  father  was 
an  able  and  upright  business  man  of  the  Pennsylvania  frontier. 
It  was  he  who  discovered  the  fact  that  the  people  of  Lancaster 
were  rich  and  prone  to  go  to  law.6  There  it  was  that  his  son 
James  studied  law  at  a  time  when  the  bar  of  that  county  had  the 
reputation  second  to  none  in  the  state  save  Philadelphia,  and  when 
Pennsylvania  was  said  to  have  the  smartest  lawyers  in  the  land.7 

The  mother  of  the  Buchanan  family,  Elizabeth  Speer  Buchanan, 
had  even  greater  influence  in  molding  the  character  of  the  future 
President.  He  records  that  she  was  always  encouraging  her  sons 
to  match  wits  with  each  other  to  the  end  that  they  might  make 
their  mark  in  the  world.8     The  parents  gave  their  children  the 

4  Congressional  Record,  Vol.  56,  part  8,  pp.  7877-7888.  A  bitter  partisan 
attack  of  garbled  statements  made  from  suppressed  evidence.  For  a  better 
account  see  Rufus  Hardy  of  Texas,  Cong.  Rec,  Vol.  56,  part  12,  pp.  430- 
34- 

5  For  this  able  and  excellent  speech  see  Cong.  Rec,  Vol.  56,  part  2,  p. 
2090. 

G  John  Robert  Irelan,  "  Our  Presidents  and  Their  Administrations,"  Chi- 
cago, 1888,  Vol.  XV,  p.  20. 

7  William  Uhler  Hensel,  "  James  Buchanan  as  a  Lawyer,"  Lancaster,  Pa., 
1911,  p.  5- 

8  Curtis,  Vol.  I,  pp.  2,  3. 


4  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

best  education  that  the  region  afforded.  Pious  instruction  of  the 
Presbyterian  variety  formed  part  of  the  parental  exhortations 
with  the  result  that  Buchanan  developed  a  strong  strain  of  devo- 
tion not  untinged  with  fatalism.9  A  younger  brother,  Edward  Y. 
Buchanan,  became  the  pastor  of  a  large  Episcopal  church  at 
Philadelphia.  Two  other  brothers  were  locally  prominent  but 
died  before  middle  life.  Thus  all  the  family  were  successful 
after  the  current  material  and  moral  standards  of  the  time. 

Some  might  believe  from  the  fact  that  Buchanan  was  once  ex- 
pelled from  Dickinson  College  that  he  was,  in  youth,  wild  and 
irresponsible.10  Such  was  not  the  case.  He  once  wrote  that  he 
was  not  inclined  to  be  wild  or  dissipated,  but  that  one  had  to  be 
so  considered  in  order  to  be  a  leader.  Therefore  he  attempted  to 
meet  the  requirements  and  did.  In  short,  his  mother's  teaching 
had  had  a  marked  effect  although  not  quite  in  the  desired  manner. 
He  had  evidently  determined  to  take  a  leading  role  wherever  he 
found  himself.  This  ambition,  curbed  by  religious  training,  led 
him  to  seek  to  be  highly  respectable  rather  than  notorious.  Lan- 
caster can  boast  no  more  model  citizen u  than  the  "  Sage  of 
Wheatland." 

Ambition  is  not  the  sole  key  to  success  even  as  the  world  meas- 
ures it.  One  must  also  have  some  good  fortune,  force  of  char- 
acter, or  intellectual  talent  coupled  with  adaptability.  The  intel- 
lectual make-up  of  Buchanan  had  become  evident  at  college,  and 
pointed  the  way  to  theology,  law,  or  political  science  had  the  voca- 
tional advisers  been  present  to  make  their  contribution.  Curtis 
noted  that  Buchanan's  student  notes  indicated  a  fondness  for 
logic  and  metaphysics.12  People  with  shallow  minds  do  not  care 
for  such  subjects.  The  practical  side  of  his  nature,  abetted  by 
his  father's  interest,  turned  these  talents  in  the  direction  of  law. 
He  would  have  graduated  with  honors  had  not  the  spite  of  the 
faculty  withheld  them.13     Although  not  of  a  vindictive  nature, 

9  See  William  Uhler  Hensel,  "  The  Religious  Character  and  Convictions 
of  James  Buchanan,"  Lancaster,  191 1,  esp.  pp.  26-30,  33. 

10  Curtis,  Vol.  I,  pp.  4,  5. 

11  Horton,  pp.  282,  283. 

12  Curtis,  Vol.  I,  p.  6. 

13  Curtis,  ibid.,  p.  5. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  5 

Buchanan  perhaps  remembered  their  attitude  when  he  refused  a 
request  for  an  endowment  after  the  Civil  War. 

Buchanan's  career  as  a  lawyer  or,  more  properly,  as  a  legalist 
was  a  brilliant  one.  In  that  field  he  gave  many  proofs  of  his 
great  intellect,  yet  it  has  been  quickly  passed  over  by  his  biog- 
raphers because  it  is  less  dramatic  than  the  period  of  his  political 
activities.  According  to  a  local  historian  we  find,  "  During  the 
tide  of  his  practise  his  name  occurs  oftener  in  the  Reports  of  the 
State  than  that  of  any  lawyer  of  his  time."  14  "  His  most  notable 
case  as  a  country  lawyer  was  his  successful  defense  of  Judge 
Franklin  before  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania  when  he  was  only 
twenty-five  years  of  age.15  ..."  His  reputation  became  state- 
wide, and  business  came  in  like  a  flood.  At  the  age  of  forty  he 
was  able  to  retire  from  practice  to  choose  the  more  exciting,  but 
less  lucrative,  field  of  politics.  He  was  averse  to  advising  per- 
sons to  go  into  politics  before  they  had  enough  to  live  on.  While 
he  was  thrifty  enough  to  collect  every  cent  of  his  official  salary, 
he  paid  many  of  the  bills  of  the  White  House  from  his  own 
purse.16  Perhaps  the  most  notable  item  of  this  kind  was  the  one 
for  the  reception  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  later  Edward  VII, 
when  he  visited  this  country  in  i860.  Despite  the  most  despicable 
efforts  of  the  partisan  Covode  Committee,  instigated  to  ruin  his 
reputation,  nothing  could  be  found  to  question  his  integrity.17 
The  same  statements  could  not  apply  to  portions  of  his  party,  but 
the  methods  of  Seward,  Weed,  and  the  later  Grant  Administra- 
tion offered  no  inspiring  contrast  to  any  actions  of  the  Ante- 
Bellum  Democracy. 

As  a  member  of  the  House  Judiciary  Committee,  he  has  left  a 
record  which  unquestionably  places  him  among  the  ablest  legal 
minds  of  the  country.  His  conduct  of  the  famous  Peck  Impeach- 
ment Trial  brought  him  into  early  prominence.  The  fact  that  he 
lost  the  case  by  only  one  vote  (22  to  21)  did  not  lessen  the  im- 
pression which  he  made.     Judge  Black,  himself  one  of  America's 

14  Alexander  Harris,  "  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County,"  Lan- 
caster, 1872,  pp.  92,  93. 

15  William  U.  Hensel,  "  James  Buchanan  as  a  Lawyer,"  p.  8. 

16  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  230  note. 

17  Covode  Investigation  in  House  Reports,  36th  Congress,  1st  Session,  No. 
648.     See  Minority  Report;  also  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  Chap.  XII. 

2 


6  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

most  famous  constitutional  lawyers,  held  his  argument,  "  as  the 
greatest  legal  argument  ever  made  upon  the  power  of  a  court  to 
punish  for  contempt,  the  point  upon  which  the  case  turned. 
.  .  .  " 18  The  Senate  changed  the  technicalities  in  the  law  that 
were  responsible  for  the  acquittal  so  that  no  judge  ever  com- 
mitted a  similar  offense.19 

The  glory  of  Buchanan's  legal  career  was  his  Minority  Report 
which  saved  the  twenty-fifth  section  of  the  Judiciary  Act.  This 
was  the  section  which  Marshall  had  used  to  invalidate  State  laws 
which  he  held  unconstitutional.  Charles  Warren  in  his  work  on 
the  Supreme  Court  has  held  it  as  "  one  of  the  great  and  signal 
documents  in  the  history  of  American  Constitutional  Law. 
..." 19a  Those  who  are  of  the  Calhoun  Democracy  of  course  do 
not  hold  that  it  was  the  best  course  to  take.  Contrary  to  the 
common  view,  Buchanan  was  not  at  all  inconsistent  in  this  posi- 
tion. All  through  his  career  the  idea  of  a  Court  purged  of  Fed- 
eralism and  filled  with  States  Rights  men  met  with  his  favor.20 
He  did  not  hesitate,  however,  to  find  fault  with  Taney  on  a  de- 
cision which  he  considered  too  centralizing.21  From  another 
angle  one  could  say  that  his  whole  career  was  spent  in  trying  to 
settle  great  questions  by  arbitration  of  the  Courts  to  prevent  ap- 
peals to  the  sword.  Of  all  the  lawyer  Presidents  which  the 
United  States  have  had,  none  could  show  a  more  distinguished 
record  than  Buchanan. 

Another  field  of  this  distinguished  Pennsylvanian  is  that  of 
political  leadership.  Historians,  for  the  most  part,  know  too 
little  of  the  world  outside  of  their  studies.  An  exception,  per- 
haps, was  President  Wilson,  who  had  he  been  more  of  a  poli- 
tician and  less  of  a  teacher,  might  have  had  better  fortune  with 
his  Peace  Treaty.  If  historians  had  more  experience  with  the 
world,  they  would  see  that  the  business  of  being  a  political  leader 
requires  intellectual  acumen  in  considerable  degree.  The  knack 
of  being  prominent  in  public  life  for  over  forty  years,  twenty  of 

18  Philadelphia  Press,  March  16,  1882. 

19  Alexander  Harris,  "  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County,"  p.  97. 
19a  Charles   Warren,   "  The   Supreme   Court   in   United    States    History," 

Boston,  1922,  Vol.  II,  p.  199. 

20  Moore,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  420. 

21  Warren,  ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  340. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  7 

which  were  spent  as  the  chief  director  of  the  Democratic  machine 
in  a  state  teeming  with  politicians,  including  such  men  as  Simon 
Cameron  and  Thad.  Stevens,  was  no  child's  play.  True,  Bu- 
chanan never  came  forward  with  new  ideas  in  the  Halls  of  Con- 
gress, but  his  constructive  abilities  were  put  to  the  directing  of 
his  political  machine  instead.  His  marked  social  gifts  were  a 
great  asset  in  the  political  game  he  loved  so  well. 

Buchanan  had  early  tasted  of  the  sweets  of  politics  but  had 
decided  to  withdraw  and  devote  his  attention  to  his  profession. 
The  tragic  death  of  his  betrothed  drove  him  to  find  consolation 
in  a  renewed  participation  in  public  affairs.22  Beginning  as  an 
insurgent  against  the  Duanes  and  the  Dallases,23  his  ability  was 
forced  upon  the  attention  of  Jackson  and  his  men.  Buchanan 
was  never  treated  fairly  by  either  Jackson  or  Polk.  He  gave 
them  honest  service  but  they  were  at  times  suspicious  of  him. 
In  Jackson's  case  this  was  spasmodic,  and  due  to  the  hostile  in- 
trigues of  the  Blairs.24  Blaine  25  has  well  said  that  Polk  was  in- 
capable of  judging  Buchanan  fairly,  and  Polk's  diary,26  probably 
written  for  publication,  shows  that  Secretary  Buchanan  was  by 
far  his  intellectual  superior.  Buchanan,  on  the  other  hand,  al- 
ways defended  Polk's  Administration  27  even  when  he  had  dis- 
agreed with  Polk.  He  greatly  respected  Mrs.  Polk,  and  it  was 
suggested  by  Cave  Johnson,28  in  1851,  that  he  marry  the  widow 
of  the  late  President.  At  an  earlier  time,  in  writing  to  Mrs. 
Catron,  a  mutual  friend,  Buchanan  had  remarked  that  he  might 
marry  someone  who  would  take  care  of  him  as  he  was  no  longer 
of  romantic  mood.  That  type  of  love  had  been  cruelly  blasted 
in  his  youth  and  lay  buried  in  the  grave  with  the  beautiful  Miss 
Coleman.     The  light  and  comfort  of  Buchanan's  later  years  was 

22  Curtis,  Vol.  I,  18,  19,  22. 

23  E.g.,  Justin  Harvey  Smith,  "  The  War  with  Mexico,"  Chicago,  1910,  p. 
282. 

24  For  indications  of  feuds  with  the  Blairs,  see  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  408, 
4I3-I5. 

25  James  G.  Blaine,  "  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  Norwich,  Conn.,  1886, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  57-59- 

26  E.g.,  Milo  M.  Quaife,  ed.,  "  Diary  of  James  K.  Polk,"  Chicago,  1910, 
Vol.  Ill,  pp.  402-404. 

27  E.g.,  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  72. 

28  Roy  Franklin  Nichols,  "  The  Democratic  Machine,  1850-54,"  p.  77. 


8  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

his  beautiful  and  accomplished  niece,  Harriet  Lane,  whom  he  had 
brought  up  from  childhood,  and  who  was  his  Lady  of  the  Land. 

Buchanan's  rise  to  the  Presidency  was  no  dark  horse  affair. 
It  was  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  political  skill  as  a  leader.  By  1856 
he  was  the  man  who  could  best  obtain  the  vote  of  the  Keystone 
State.  With  the  tide  of  abolition  rising  and  the  possibility  of  a 
"  Brother's  War  "  increasing,  the  conservatives  looked  to  him  as 
a  possible  means  of  averting  the  calamity  of  disunion. 

Pennsylvania,  because  of  its  need  of  a  protective  tariff,  was  an 
unruly  member  of  the  Democracy.  Buchanan  had  compromised 
with  the  demands  of  the  manufacturers  by  a  middle-of-the  road 
policy  for  over  twenty  years.  According  to  Stephens  Buchanan 
saw  by  i860,  that  it  was  impossible  and  so  came  out  for  protec- 
tion. The  question  naturally  arises  as  to  what  would  have  hap- 
pened to  the  party  in  the  state  had  the  Slavery  issue  not  broken 
the  Union  at  that  juncture.  Alexander  K.  McClure,30  a  Republi- 
can politician  of  note,  frankly  said  that  it  was  the  tariff  that 
carried  the  state  for  the  Republicans  in  i860.  The  victory  was 
aided  by  the  Douglas  followers,  who  left  nothing  undone  to  secure 
the  defeat  of  the  Democratic  Party  in  Pennsylvania. 

It  is  an  error  to  believe  that  Buchanan's  absence  from  the  coun- 
try during  the  Kansas-Nebraska  agitation  was  the  main  factor  in 
nominating  him  for  the  Presidency.  Neither  did  Southern  men 
need  an  Ostend  Manifesto  to  become  acquainted  with  the  candi- 
date from  Pennsylvania.  Buchanan  had  protested  against  the 
meeting  to  Pierce.31  It  was  more  important  that  Buchanan  was 
the  intimate  friend  of  John  Slidell,32  the  political  leader  of  the 
Southwest,  and  of  Henry  A.  Wise,33  the  able  but  erratic  Governor 
of  Virginia.     The  latter  saw  that  Buchanan  was  the  only  man 

29  Myrta  Lockett  Avary,  "  Recollections  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,"  New 
York,  1910,  pp.  40,  41. 

30  Alexander  Kelly  McClure,  "  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,"  Phila- 
delphia, 1892,  pp.  149,  150. 

31  Moore,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  251,  288-9. 

32  Louis  M.  Sears,  "Buchanan  and  Slidell,"  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  27  (July, 
1922).  This  material  may  also  be  found  in  Professor  Sears'  "John  Sli- 
dell," Durham,  N.  C,  1926. 

33  Lyon  Gardner  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Richmond, 
Va.,  1884,  Vol.  II,  p.  527. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  9 

who,  because  of  his  machine,  could  put  Pennsylvania  in  the  Demo- 
cratic column.  This  was  the  main  factor  that  nominated  Bu- 
chanan in  1856.  Had  Buchanan  possessed  the  little  skill  usually 
attributed  to  him  by  the  average  text-book  writer,  he  would  never 
have  been  mentioned  for  the  nomination.  His  old  rival  Dallas 
was  still  available,  and  might  have  been  chosen.  Buchanan  had 
by  1856  lost  most  of  his  hankering  for  Presidential  honors.  He 
and  Slidell  scented  trouble  34  in  the  wind,  and  this  together  with 
his  increasing  years,  made  him  hesitate.35 

Finally  he  decided  to  run  for  a  number  of  reasons.  The  role 
of  Henry  Clay  appealed  to  him.36  At  heart  he  was  a  gentleman 
and  a  patriot  who  desired  to  bring  peace  to  an  agitated  country. 
This  was  more  than  could  be  said  of  some  of  his  opponents.  He 
felt  obligated  to  his  friends  who  had  long  supported  his  candidacy. 
The  idea  of  abdicating  the  control  of  the  Pennsylvania  Democracy 
did  not  appeal  to  the  old  leader  who  had  enjoyed  forty  years  of 
political  power. 

The  patronage  was  no  small  cause  of  the  main  difficulties  of 
the  Buchanan  machine  in  Pennsylvania.  Twelve  years  of  hope 
had  created  a  greater  demand  than  supply,  and  there  were  not 
enough  places  in  the  president's  gift  to  satisfy  his  followers. 
Buchanan  was  too  strong  to  be  killed,  as  Harrison  had  been,  but 
he  found  plenty  to  worry  about  in  the  matter  of  appointments.37 

34  Louis  M.  Sears,  ibid.,  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  27,  p.  723. 

35  "  I  can  now  leave  public  life  with  credit.  Should  I  become  President 
the  case  might  become  very  different,  after  I  shall  have  worn  myself  out 
with  the  toil  and  anxiety  of  the  office.  Still  I  do  not  believe  that  the  next 
President,  should  he  really  be  the  man  for  the  place,  would  encounter  in- 
superable difficulties.  Unchangeable  firmness  tempered  by  prudent  discre- 
tion would,  I  think,  in  a  great  degree  put  down  the  slavery  agitation.  The 
question  has  been  settled  by  Congress,  and  this  settlement  should  be  in- 
flexibly maintained."  Buchanan  to  Harriet  Lane,  December  28,  1855,  Moore, 
Vol.  IX,  p.  486. 

36  Horton,  p.  426. 

37  "  .  .  .  The  number  of  applicants  for  office  in  Pennsylvania  has  been 
very  great  and  most  of  these  have  been  worthy  and  excellent  men  to  whom 
I  am  under  political  obligations.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  appoint- 
ment of  one  is  the  disappointment  of  many;  and  although  I  have  nominated 
such  a  number  of  Pennsylvanians  to  the  Senate  as  to  have  produced  at  last 
a  titter  throughout  the  Body  when   such  nominations  were  read,  yet   this 


10  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  South  had  saved  the  party,  or  rather  had  shown  where  the 
party  was  located  on  election  day,38  and  therefore  was  left  secure 
in  its  holdings.  Buchanan  had  a  nice  way  of  saying  "  no,"  but 
it  was  difficult  for  him  to  refuse  old  friends  whose  abilities  en- 
titled them  to  consideration.39 

The  Pennsylvania  Democracy  carried  the  state  in  1856,  but 
with  great  effort  against  the  Cameron-Fremont  coalition.  Ma- 
chine organization  told,  and  so  Buchanan  was  at  the  pinnacle  of 
his  fame  when,  with  a  troubled  heart,  he  boarded  a  train  for 
Washington  in  the  spring  of  1857.  The  man  whom  Letcher  of 
Virginia  had  hailed  as  the  cleverest  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party  not  excepting  VanBuren  had  come  into  his  own.40 

Another  phase  of  Buchanan's  career  which  merits  attention  is 
in  the  field  of  foreign  relations.  Professor  Fish,41  who  takes  a 
fling  at  his  Presidential  policy,  concedes  his  dialectic  skill  in 
diplomatic  matters.  Sent  to  St.  Petersburg  because  he  was  too 
clever  for  Jackson,  he  secured  a  commercial  treaty  which  had 
eluded  the  grasp  of  American  ministers  for  twenty  years.  Bu- 
chanan the  bland  succeeded  where  Adams  and  others  had  failed. 
His  frank  yet  affable  manner  won  the  favor  of  the  Czar  who 
found  in  him  an  agreeable  cantrast  to  the  evasive  European 
diplomats.  His  successor  William  Wilkins  of  Pennsylvania  de- 
clared that  he  had  left  nothing  for  him  (Wilkins)  to  do.42  The 
final  judgment  was  supplied  by  the  late  Andrew  D.  White,  a  Re- 
publican as  early  as  1856.  He  studied  Buchanan's  papers  at  St. 
Petersburg ;  met  Buchanan  in  London ;  and  formed  a  very  favor- 
perhaps  only  increased  the  number  of  disappointed.  ..."  Buchanan  to  Wil- 
liam B.  Reed,  July,  1858,  H.  S.  P.,  also  Moore,  Vol.  XI. 

"...  The  power  of  patronage  is  a  source  of  weakness  and  not  of  strength. 
Besides  the  distribution  harrows  up  ones  feelings :  because  so  many  worthy 
applicants  must  be  disappointed.  ..."  Buchanan  to  Campbell  of  Philadel- 
phia, Nov.,  1859,  H.  S.  P. 

38  A.  H.  A.,  1916,  Vol.  II,  p.  200. 

39  See  37. 

40  Ann  Mary  Butler  Crittenden  Coleman,  "  Life  of  J.  J.  Crittenden," 
Philadelphia,  187 1,  Vol.  I,  p.  195. 

41  Carl  Russel  Fish,  "  History  of  American  Diplomacy,"  New  York,  1919, 
p.  282. 

42  From  a  campaign  biography  in  L.  C. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  11 

able  opinion  of  his  ability.43  White  noted  the  excellent  conversa- 
tional powers  of  Buchanan  and  declared  that  he  was  one  of  the 
best  conversationalists  44  which  he,  in  the  course  of  a  long  and 
eventful  life,  had  met  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  An  Ohio 
journalist  said,  that  Buchanan  "  was  the  most  accomplished  diner- 
out  in  the  state  (Pennsylvania)  not  excepting  Morton  McMichael 
of  Philadelphia.  .  .  .  " 45  His  niece  realized  this  gift  and  encour- 
aged him  in  it. 

On  the  subject  of  Anglo-American  relations,  Buchanan  was  one 
of  the  few  Americans  of  his  day  who  realized  the  influence  of 
the  British  Empire  in  world  politics.  While  he  held  to  the  ideas 
of  American  expansion  in  season  and  out,  and  may  therefore  be 
called  an  imperialist,  he  also  sought  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
England. 

While  in  London,  Buchanan  enjoyed  not  a  little  social  prestige, 
which  was  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  charm  of  his  niece  Har- 
riet Lane.46  He  made  a  good  bargain  with  the  British  in  Central 
America  which,  although  not  conceding  every  point  in  our  favor, 
was  more  than  the  British  had  been  disposed  to  grant  since  they 
had  won  the  fruits  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty.  Dallas,  Bu- 
chanan's successor,  consummated  the  work  which  he  had  ad- 
vanced. Marcy  and  Pierce  were  not  over  pleased  with  the  capital 
Buchanan's  friends  made  out  of  his  successes.  Perhaps  they  had 
intended  the  appointment  to  have  been  his  last  political  appear- 
ance. By  the  end  of  Buchanan's  Administration,  he  and  Lord 
Lyons,  the  British  Ambassador,  had  ironed  out  most  of  the  old 
grudges  of  the  two  countries. 

Tyler  Dennet,47  a  worshipper  of  William  H.  Seward,  has 
sought  to  elevate  his  Far  Eastern  policy  at  the  expense  of  that  of 
Buchanan.     Yet  in  spite  of  his  remarks,  his  very  criticisms  are 

43  Andrew  Dickson  White,  "  Autobiography,"  New  York,  1914,  Vol.  I, 
PP-  72,  73- 

44  Andrew  Dickson  White,  ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  448. 

45  Cincinnati  Commercial. 

46  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  chap.  VII. 

47  Tyler  Dennet,  "  Americans  in  Eastern  Asia,"  New  York,  1923,  pp.  263, 
264.  Mr.  Dennet  tries  to  give  the  credit  of  the  Townsend  Mission  to  Fill- 
more, yet  Buchanan  sustained  it.  It  might  also  be  added  that  the  Japanese 
Mission  here  was  a  success  of  the  Buchanan  Administration. 


12  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

in  a  sense  compliments  to  Buchanan's  policies  there.  He  finds 
fault  with  Buchanan,  because  without  any  use  of  force,  he  reaped 
the  same  privileges  in  China  as  the  French  and  English  who  made 
two  wars  for  the  same  ends.  Ambassador  Reed  is  not  fairly 
dealt  with  by  Mr.  Dennet.  He  was  not  only  an  able  lawyer,  but 
a  Professor  of  American  History  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  a  journalist  of  note.  The  use  of  David  Lawrence  by 
President  Wilson  is  another  instance  of  the  use  of  able  news- 
paper men  for  diplomatic  work.  Buchanan's  policy  in  the  Far 
East  was  clever  and  successful  as  diplomacy  goes.  In  fact  it  was 
too  clever  for  Mr.  Dennet's  taste.  It  was  one  of  the  few  times 
when  American  diplomacy  received  something  without  a  cost. 

In  concluding  our  sketch  of  this  portion  of  Buchanan's  career, 
no  more  authoritative  citation  can  be  given  than  that  of  John 
Bassett  Moore,  one  of  the  outstanding  American  diplomatists 
of  the  last  and  present  century.  Long  familiar  with  Buchanan's 
record,  he  published,  in  1904,  an  account  of  his  advanced  position 
upon  the  subject  of  American  citizenship  in  instances  where  a 
naturalized  citizen  returned  to  his  homeland  and  had  occasion  to 
claim  our  protection.49  Judge  Moore  wrote  an  able  article  on 
this  phase  of  Buchanan's  career  and  published  it  long  before  he 
was  employed  by  the  executors  of  the  Lane  estate  to  edit  the 
President's  papers.  In  the  preface  of  that  able  work  he  has  gone 
on  record  as  saying  that  diplomacy  was  Buchanan's  special  gift.50 
Such  a  statement  by  a  master  of  the  craft  is  more  than  enough  to 
put  to  rout  the  Republican  propaganda  to  the  contrary. 

Temperamentally,  Buchanan  had  many  of  the  traits  of  the 
astute  Franklin.  While  the  middle  period  required  no  such 
major  diplomatic  service,  yet  Buchanan's  triumphs  were  of  much 
the  same  variety.  They  were  triumphs  of  personal  character  in 
both  instances.  Professor  Marion  M.  Miller,51  although  not  well 
informed  concerning  Buchanan's  political  activities,  gives  him 
due  credit  for  his  diplomatic  capacities  and  notes  the  resemblance. 
It  may  be  also  well  to  add  that  had  Congress  accepted  Buchanan's 

49  John  Bassett  Moore,  "  The  Principles  of  American  Diplomacy,"  New 
York,  1905,  pp.  276,  277;  279-85. 

50  Moore,  Vol.  I,  Preface,  p.  2. 

51  Marion  Mills  Miller,  "American  Debate,"  New  York,  1916;  see  sketch 
on  Buchanan. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  13 

ideas  52  on  the  Mexican  problem,  there  would  probably  have  been 
no  Napoleonic  episode  in  that  region.  In  the  question  of  the  pur- 
chase of  Alaska,  Buchanan  was  in  advance  of  Seward.53  He  had 
attempted  to  negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  that  region,  but  Con- 
gress was  sounded  and  gave  forth  a  hopeless  noise.  His  friend. 
Senator  Gwin  of  California,  was  also  ardently  in  favor  of  the 
purchase,  but,  like  his  chief,  saw  that  the  time  was  not  ripe.  The 
House  was  in  the  hands  of  the  foes  of  the  Administration  and 
would  give  no  funds  for  carrying  out  the  purchase.  Seward  in 
the  popular  mind  has  had  too  much  credit  for  the  idea.  Even  in 
his  time,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  legislative  branch,  the  public  had 
to  be  educated  to  the  proposition. 

As  a  public  speaker,  Buchanan  has  won  more  credit  than  he  has 
usually  received.  Although  many  portions  of  his  speeches  would 
weary  this  hurried  age,  yet  the  same  could  be  said  of  many  of  the 
passages  of  Webster  and  Clay.  If  the  compilers  of  source  books 
would  select  only  the  fine  passages  of  Buchanan's  speeches,  just 
as  they  have  done  in  the  case  of  Webster,  many  comparable  ex- 
amples of  eloquence  of  a  high  order  would  come  to  light.  Bu- 
chanan took  a  leading  role  in  most  of  the  debates  of  his  Con- 
gressional career.  In  those  speeches,  the  fire  of  eloquence  is  not 
often  present,  as  he  was  a  man  of  cautious  speech.  His  more 
eloquent  addresses  are  of  a  less  political  nature,  a  few  of  which 
have  come  down  to  us.  The  same  fervor  is  present  in  some  of 
his  state  papers  and  messages  written  at  the  close  of  his  Ad- 
ministration when  his  heart  was  stirred  to  its  depths  at  the  pros- 
pect of  a  "  Brother's  War."  For  the  constitutional  historian, 
Buchanan's  productions  have  a  special  value,  as  he  had  the  custom 
of  waiting  until  both  sides  had  stated  their  positions  in  the  de- 
bate. Then  he  would  arise  and  sum  up  both  sides  before  stating 
his  own  point  of  view.  The  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by 
his  constituents,  who  sent  him  for  ten  years  to  the  House,  and  for 
three  terms  to  the  Senate,  is  a  marked  proof  of  his  capacity  as  an 
able  public  servant. 

Buchanan's   Presidential  career  has  often  been  held  a  grand 

52  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  221,  222.  Howard  Lafayette  Wilson,  "  Buchanan's 
Proposed  Intervention  in  Mexico,"  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  V,  pp.  187-201. 

53  F.  A.  Golder,  "The  Purchase  of  Alaska,"  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  XXV,  pp. 
411-25,  esp.  pp.  414,  416,  417. 


14  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

failure.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  point  of  view  held  by  most 
Northern  writers  who  live  after,  rather  than  before,  the  victories 
of  the  North  of  the  Civil  War.  The  list  would  also  include  cer- 
tain fire-eating  Secessionists  as  Pollard.54  When  one  traces  the 
history  of  the  times  in  which  Buchanan  spent  his  public  life,  and 
traces  his  aims  and  convictions  for  which  he  strove  in  that  period, 
the  conclusions  must  be  greatly  altered. 

As  a  public  man  Buchanan  never  hid  his  attitude  on  the  subject 
of  Southern  constitutional  rights.  Throughout  his  entire  career, 
he  endeavored  to  obtain  their  protection  inside  the  Union.  As 
early  as  1826,  he  had  taken  his  stand,  publicly,  upon  the  subject 
of  slavery: 

Permit  me  here,  for  a  moment  to  speak  upon  a  subject  to  which 
I  have  never  before  adverted  upon  this  floor,  and  to  which  I 
trust  I  may  never  have  occasion  to  advert.  I  mean  the  subject  of 
slavery.  I  believe  it  to  be  a  great  political  and  moral  evil.  I 
thank  God  that  my  lot  has  been  cast  in  a  state  where  it  does  not 
exist.  But,  while  I  entertain  these  opinions,  I  know  it  is  an  evil 
at  present  without  a  remedy.  It  has  been  a  curse  entailed  upon 
us  by  that  nation  which  now  makes  it  a  subject  of  reproach  to  our 
institutions.  It  is,  however,  one  of  those  moral  evils,  from  which 
it  is  impossible  for  us  to  escape,  without  the  introduction  of  evils 
infinitely  greater.  There  are  portions  of  this  Union,  in  which,  if 
you  emancipate  your  slaves  they  will  become  your  masters. 
There  can  be  no  middle  course.  Is  there  any  man  in  this  Union 
who  could  for  a  moment  indulge  in  the  horrible  idea  of  abolish- 
ing slavery  by  the  massacre  of  the  high-minded,  and  the  chivalrous 
race  of  men  in  the  South  ?  I  trust  there  is  not  one.  For  my  own 
part  I  would,  without  hesitation,  buckle  on  my  knapsack,  and 
march  with  my  friend  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Everett),  in 
defense  of  their  cause.  .  .  .55 

Buchanan,  then,  was  not  a  member  of  that  school  who  believed 
"  in  cutting  a  white  man's  throat  to  set  a  black  man  free."  At 
another  time  he  said,56  "  This  then  is  not  a  question  of  general 
morality  effecting  the  consciences  of  men,  but  it  is  a  question  of 
constitutional  law ; "  and  at  another,  "  Although  in  Pennsylvania 
we  are  all  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract,  yet  we  will  never 
violate  the  Constitutional  compact  which  we  have  made  with  our 

54  E.g.,  Edward  A.  Pollard,  "The  Lost  Cause,"  New  York,  1867,  p.  96. 

«5  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  68. 

56  Horton,  p.  426. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  15 

sister  states.     Their  rights  will  be  held  sacred  by  us.     Under  the 
Constitution  it  is  their  question  and  there  let  it  remain."  57 

Buchanan's  attitude  towards  the  Abolitionists  was  far  more 
charitable  than  they  or  their  sons,  who  have  aspired  to  the  writ- 
ing of  history,  have  been  to  him.     Characterizing  them,  he  said, 

The  motives  of  many  of  them  may  have  been  honest,  but  their 
zeal  was  without  knowledge.  The  history  of  mankind  affords 
numerous  instances  of  ignorant  enthusiasts,  the  purity  of  whose 
motives  could  not  be  doubted,  who  have  spread  devastation  and 
bloodshed  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  .  .  ,58 

This  statement  did  not  apply  to  that  class  of  persons  who  en- 
tered the  anti-slavery  party  for  hope  of  political  advancement. 
For  such  people  the  President,  and  especially  his  friend,  Jeremiah 
S.  Black,  had  unmitigated  contempt. 

Buchanan  hoped  against  expectation  for  the  gradual  extinction 
of  Slavery  which  he  held  had  been  indefinitely  halted  by  the  tactics 
of  Abolition.59  He  did  not  sympathize  with  that  school  of  South- 
ern thought  which  held  Slavery  a  blessing  for  the  negro. 

His  attitude  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  was  legal  rather 
than  personal.  He  had  no  antipathy  toward  the  race  as  was,  and 
is  often  in  evidence  in  the  North.  He  asked  William  Corcoran,60 
a  famous  banker  of  Washington,  to  secure  a  negro  who  had  been 
the  body  servant  of  President  Polk  to  act  in  like  capacity  for 
himself.  In  Lancaster  he  employed  a  colored  barber,  who  paid 
the  following  tribute  to  Buchanan's  character  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  "  Why,  sir,  he  didn't  know  what  it  was  to  give  a  rough 
answer  to  man,  woman,  or  child."  61  In  a  number  of  instances 
he  purchased  slaves  in  Washington,  took  them  into  free  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  allowed  them  to  pay  him,  if  they  could,  from  their 
wages.62 

During  the  early  part  of  the  struggle  of  1850,  Buchanan  strongly 

57  Buchanan,  p.  15. 

58  Moore,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  25,  26. 

59  See  letter  to  Flinn  below.  Upon  Texas  and  the  extinction  of  slavery 
in  the  border  states,  Sarah  Wytton  Maury,  "  The  Statesmen  of  America," 
London,  1847,  p.  29. 

60  Buchanan  to  William  Corcoran,  July  14,  1853.     Corcoran  Mss.  L.  C. 

61  New  York  World,  June  II,  1868. 

62  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  674. 


16  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

favored  the  retention  of  the  Missouri  line  and  its  extension 
through  to  the  Pacific  as  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  When 
the  part  officially  accepted  other  terms,  he  withdrew  his  conten- 
tion. Writing  of  the  Compromise  of  1850  to  Cave  Johnson,  he 
said,  "  The  Compromise  is  certainly  a  hard  bargain  for  the  South ; 
but  to  acquiesce  in  it  for  the  sake  of  union  is  the  duty  of  every 
patriot." 

An  able  summary  of  Buchanan's  ideas  upon  the  crises  and  its 
issues  is  contained  in  the  following  letter : 63 

Wheatland  8  August  1849. 
Dear  Sir/ 

I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  6th  Instant ;  and  have  no  ad- 
vice to  give  you  except  to  promote  your  own  interests  by  every 
honorable  means  in  your  power.  If  the  opportunity  offers  of  be- 
coming the  publisher  of  a  Democratic  paper  advancing  sound 
Democratic  principles,  you  ought  not  to  be  prevented  from  em- 
bracing it  from  the  mere  circumstance  that  its  editor  may  not  be 
so  friendly  to  me  as  to  some  other  members  of  the  party.  Be- 
sides, as  publisher  you  would  not  be  responsible  for  the  Editorials. 

As  to  my  sentiments  on  the  Slavery  question,  they  remain  un- 
changed. I  think  it  ought  to  have  been  settled  by  the  adoption 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  The  time,  however,  has  passed  for 
this  :  and  the  general  ground  of  non-intervention  is  that  which  the 
Democratic  party  ought  now  to  occupy.  If  they  should  do  this, 
the  question  will  soon  settle  itself  &  peace  &  harmony  will  be  re- 
stored to  the  party  &  the  Union.  It  is  the  common  ground  on 
which  the  North  &  South  can  unite.  Both  extremes,  Cass  on  the 
one  hand  &  Calhoun  on  the  other,  hold  that  Congress  have  no 
power  to  legislate  on  the  question.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Calhoun 
&  his  followers  believe  that  the  acquisition  of  New  Territory, 
even  though  it  should  be  free  as  was  &  is  California,  enables  a 
slave  holder  from  any  of  the  States  to  carry  slaves  into  it  &  to 
hold  them  there  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Upon  this  theory  the  question  must  eventually  be  settled  by  the 
Judiciary.  But  will  any  slaves  be  carried  there,  when  all  coincide, 
that  the  people  of  the  territories,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  can 
regulate  this  question  as  they  please  in  their  State  constitutions 
preparaory  to  their  admission  into  the  Union?  The  truth  is  that 
so  far  as  the  North  is  concerned  the  question  is  a  mere  humbug. 
Slavery  will  never  exist  in  either  California  or  New   Mexico. 

63  H.  S.  P.     See  also  Moore,  Vol.  VIII,  for  letters  of  the  period. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  17 

Neither  Congress,  nor  a  Territorial  Legislature,  nor  a  State  Legis- 
lature will  ever  re-establish  it  in  either  of  these  Territories. 
Every  well  informed  man,  whether  North  or  South,  knows  this 
to  be  a  fact.  The  North,  therefore,  by  the  doctrine  of  non-inter- 
vention have  obtained  all  they  can  desire  &  with  this  they  ought 
to  be  content.  To  go  further  &  force  the  Wilmont  proviso  or 
any  similar  measure  through  Congress  can  have  no  other  effect 
than  that  of  causelessly  exasperating  the  South  &  disturbing  the 
harmony,  if  not  endangering  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  It  may 
be  sport  for  Northern  Demagogues  to  urge  such  a  measure ;  but 
it  may,  also,  be  death  to  our  brethren  of  the  South.  The  perpetual 
agitation  of  this  question  excites  the  slaves  by  whom  they  are 
surrounded,  endangers  the  security  of  their  own  persons  &  that 
of  their  families,  &  may  finally  drive  them  to  disunion  as  prefer- 
able to  their  present  condition.  Their  feelings  will  be  the  more 
deeply  wounded  upon  the  present  occasion  from  the  conscious- 
ness that  no  real  question  exists :  and  that  the  Wilmont  proviso, 
if  it  should  be  forced  upon  them,  will  only  be  to  gratify  a  party 
or  sect  at  the  North  who  have  made  its  agitation  a  means  of  ob- 
taining political  power,  at  the  expense  of  all  their  Southern 
brethren  hold  most  dear.  Indeed,  I  entertain  serious  fears  that 
this  question,  although  a  mere  abstraction  in  its  practical  effect 
on  slavery  in  the  Territories,  may  be  the  first  of  a  series  of  meas- 
ures which  will  eventually  destroy  the  Union.  Entertaining  these 
convictions,  I  think  it  would  be  both  inexpedient  &  unjust  to 
establish  a  Democratic  paper  at  Washington  to  advocate  a  union 
"  between  the  non-interventionists  &  non-extensionists,"  or,  in 
other  words,  between  the  advocates  of  the  Baltimore  platform  & 
the  Buffalo  platform.  The  two  things  seem  to  be  intirely  incon- 
sistent. The  one  opposes  any  Legislation  whatever  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Slavery;  whilst  the  other  insists  upon  an  express  pro- 
vision by  law  that  Slavery  shall  never  be  extended. 

The  establishment  of  such  a  paper  at  Washington  would  neces- 
sarily tend  to  exasperate  the  South, — to  produce  distinct  &  dan- 
gerous geographic  parties,  &  to  endanger  the  Union.  God  forbid ! 
that  when  a  little  forbearance  &  moderation  on  the  part  of  the 
North  is  all  that  is  necessary, — when  by  this,  they  can  in  fact, 
accomplish  all  they  desire ; — they  should  notwithstanding,  for  the 
sake  of  gratifying  their  feelings,  honest  though  they  be,  apply  a 
torch  to  the  grandest  &  most  glorious  edifice  which  has  ever  been 
erected  to  human  liberty  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Providence  in 
its  own  good  time  will  abolish  Slavery ;  &  this  will  be  the  sooner 
accomplished  by  leaving  it,  without  interference,  where  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  has  left  it. 


18  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Thus  you  have  my  sentiments  briefly  of  the  agitiation  &  thus  I 
have  complied  with  your  request. 


From  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 
James  Buchanan 


William  Flinn 
Esquire, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

As  Buchanan  is  admitted  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  out- 
standing members  of  the  State  Rights  school  of  political  thought 
even  by  his  enemies,  it  is  not  necessary  to  give  extensive  citations 
upon  that  very  important  subject.  A  few  of  his  more  note- 
worthy utterances,  of  profession  of  that  faith,  will,  however,  be 
noted. 

The  Favorite  Son  of  Pennsylvania  began  public  life  as  a  Fed- 
eralist chiefly  because  of  the  tariff  interests  of  Pennsylvania. 
Upon  entering  the  political  arena  at  Washington,  he  became 
alarmed  at  the  centralizing  tendencies  of  Marshall  and  joined  the 
States  Rights  group.  The  doctrine,  which  characterized  the 
period,  never  gained  a  more  devoted  follower.  Characteristic  is 
a  speech  in  1837  in  which  he  boldly  and  manfully  proclaimed  him- 
self a  champion  of  the  weaker  section  of  the  Union,  saying, 

I  have  long  since  taken  my  stand,  and  from  it  I  shall  not  be 
driven.  I  do  no  desire  to  maintain  myself  at  home,  unless  I  can 
do  it  with  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  South.64 

In  1 85 1  he  declared, 

It  is  the  true  mission  of  the  Democracy  to  resist  centralism  and 
the  absorption  of  unconstitutional  powers  by  the  President  and 
Congress.  The  sovereignty  of  the  states  and  a  devotion  to  their 
reserved  rights  can  alone  preserve  and  perpetuate  our  happy  sys- 
tem of  Government.65 

In  writing  to  his  friend,  John  Y.  Mason  of  Virginia,  of  his 
Presidential  prospects  in  1851,  he  summarizes  his  prospects. 

64  Horton,  p.  145. 

65  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  23. 


HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  TIMES  19 

.  .  .  My  own  prospects  are  not  as  fair  as  they  might  be.  It  is 
true  that  the  Southern  and  the  Southwestern  States  would  be 
willing  to  go  for  me  with  as  great  and  probably  greater  unaminity 
than  for  any  Northern  man.  I  have  been  fighting  their  battles  on 
the  Slave  Question  for  the  last  fifteen  years  &  am  considered  an 
ultra  in  the  North  on  this  subject :  &  for  this  very  reason  am  not 
so  strong  in  New  York  &  the  Eastern  States,  as  I  should  other- 
wise have  been.  Still  they  cannot  say  but  that  I  have  always 
been  consistent.  .  .  ,66 

He  was  not  deceived  as  to  his  lack  of  popularity  in  New  England 
then  or  later.  In  a  letter  to  his  intimate  friend  Isaac  Toucey,  he 
said,  "  I  was  never  a  favorite  in  New  England  &  I  presume  that 
my  opinions  on  the  Slavery  Question  have  rendered  me  less  so 
than  formerly.  .  .  .  "  67 

Their  historians,  for  the  most  part,  have  continued  to  make  the 
most  of  his  unpopularity  in  their  books  since  his  death. 

Buchanan's  loyalty  to  these  doctrines,  State  Rights  and  South- 
ern Constitutional  Rights,  practically  made  him  a  political  martyr. 
His  situation  was  eloquently  stated  by  John  B.  Floyd  after  he 
had  left  the  Administration  in  1861. 

.  .  .  Let  me  come  again  to  the  support  in  justice  of  what  I  be- 
lieve to  be  that  good  old  man.  (Contemptuous  laughter.)  Was 
there  since  God  made  this  earth  a  man  ever  placed  in  so  difficult 
a  position  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  was  placed  in? 
Had  he  not  been  true  to  you?  Had  his  administration  not  been 
faithful  to  the  South?  Had  it  not  been  honest  and  faithful  to  the 
whole  Union,  because  it  was  distinctly  and  fearless  constitutional? 
I  do  not  come  here  to  censure,  gentlemen,  but  I  will  say,  because 
it  is  due  to  the  truth  of  history,  that  in  that  terrific  conflict  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  he  was  not  as  well  sustained  by  the  South 
as  he  deserved  to  be.  Perhaps  it  was  intended  that  this  present 
catastrophe  should  be  precipitated  upon  the  country.  If  they  had 
taken  a  different  course  this  doubtless  would  not  have  come. 
But  it  is  not  in  human  nature  to  be  as  true  to  another  as  to  the 
mother  that  gave  you  suck.  (Laughter.)  Mr.  Buchanan  could 
not  come  to  the  position  of  the  South  as  a  son  of  the  South 
would.  .  .  ,68 

66  Written  from  Wheatland,  June  5,  1851,  H.  S.  P. 

67  Buchanan  to  Isaac  Toucey,  Wheatland,  Nov.   10,  1851.     H.  S.  P. 

68  New  York  Herald,  January  17,  1861. 


20  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

To  the  principles  of  State  Rights  Buchanan  remained  true  in 
days  that  tried  men  souls.  He  did  not  follow  the  South  out  of 
the  Union,  but  he  ever  strove  for  her  re-admittance  with  her 
rights  unimpaired.  Unlike  some  Northern  Democrats  and  Whigs, 
Buchanan  never  bowed  to  the  increasing  popularity  of  Abolition- 
ism. He  remained  to  the  end  of  his  days  a  sturdy  and  unre- 
tractant  Democrat. 


CHAPTER  II 
Some  Aspects  of  the  Kansas  Problem 

The  Scope  of  the  Chapter — The  Northern  Version  of  the  Problem — 
The  Southern  View — Buchanan  among  the  Prophets — The  Kansas 
Situation  in  1857 — Governor  Walker  Displeases  the  Southern  De- 
mocracy— Walker's  Political  Ambitions — Walker's  Acts  in  Kansas 
— Walker  Joins  the  Opposition — He  Fails  to  Achieve  His  Ambi- 
tions— An  Analysis  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  in  Its  Relation  to 
Slavery  in  Kansas — Buchanan  and  Slavery  in  Kansas — Buchanan's 
Political  Ideas  as  Applied  to  the  Situation — His  Attitude  towards 
the  Changes  after  1850 — The  Supreme  Court  and  their  Decision — 
The  Relation  of  the  Decision  towards  the  Administration  Policy  in 
Kansas — Buchanan  and  Southern  Rights — The  Parties  on  the  Is- 
sue— Reports  from  the  Territory — The  Opposition  to  the  Constitu- 
tion— The  Toombs  Amendment — The  English  Bill —  Douglas  Re- 
fuses the  Peace  Pipe — Douglas,  rather  than  Kansas,  the  Cause  for 
the  Divided  Party — The  Lull  before  the  Storm. 

The  limited  scope  of  this  work  cannot  include  a  full  treatment 
of  the  Kansas  question.  In  view  of  the  epithets  which  have  been 
so  often  heaped  upon  the  heads  of  the  members  of  the  Buchanan 
Administration  upon  the  subject,  it  is  rather  needful  to  discuss 
some  of  the  more  important  phases  of  what  Greeley  termed  "  a 
desultory,  wasteful,  and  no  very  bloody  conflict."  * 

The  story  of  Kansas  as  usually  told  in  Northern  texts  of  the 
last  fifty  years  needs  no  retelling.  It  is  now  canonized  by  virtue 
of  continued  repetition.  A  majority  of  idealistic  persons,  victim- 
ized by  a  minority  of  cruel  slaveholders,  upheld  by  a  servile  Fed- 
eral authority,  which  deserted  Governor  Walker  to  fawn  before 
the  demands  of  the  South — thus  the  story  runs.  The  Kansas 
Historical  Society  reports  are  an  excellent  source  for  anti-slavery 
ammunition  upon  this  topic. 

The  people  of  the  South  came  to  believe  that  they  were  being 
defrauded  of  their  just  share  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Territory 

1  Horace  Greeley,  "  The  American  Conflict,"  Hartford  and  Chicago,  1865, 
Vol.  I,  p.  244. 

3  21 


22  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

by  a  Yankee  trick  known  as  the  Immigrant  Aid  Society.  This 
Society  poured  a  stream  of  unnatural  immigration  into  Kansas. 
Its  able  managers  shrewdly  endeavored  to  make  anti-slavery 
fanaticism  pay  for  itself  as  it  went  along. 

The  situation  which  faced  Buchanan  and  the  Democratic  Party 
in  1857  was  not  one  of  his  desire  or  making.  Like  Saul  of  old,  he 
had  been  among  the  prophets,  and  like  Cassandra,  he  was  never 
heeded.  As  early  as  1850  he  had  expressed  a  fear  that  two  kinds 
of  immigrants  would  make  their  way  into  the  territories  as  a 
result  of  the  Compromise  of  that  year.     There  2  .  .  . 

These  opposite  convictions  will  necessarily  produce  dissention  & 
strife  between  the  parties,  the  one  struggling  to  restrain  the 
Slaves,  the  other  to  emancipate  them.  Is  there  not  therefore  the 
danger  that  the  agitation  which  now  prevails  throughout  the 
States  may  only  for  a  brief  season  be  transferred  to  the  terri- 
tories to  be  brought  back  from  thence  with  increased  acrimony? 
I  have  no  doubt  Slaves  will  be  taken  there  for  the  purpose  of  try- 
ing out  the  Question  if  for  no  other.  .  .  . 

The  South  had,  however,  appeared  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
doubtful  values  of  the  Compromise,  and  Buchanan  had  let  the 
matter  drop. 

The  years  that  followed  showed  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  line 
to  have  been  an  act  of  doubtful  expediency.  What  was  virtually 
a  small-scale  civil  war  developed  in  Kansas  Territory.  Upon  as- 
suming the  Presidency,  Buchanan  found  a  Territorial  Govern- 
ment established,  functioning,  and  sanctioned  by  Congress  but 
unpopular  with  the  anti-slavery  agitators.  In  contrast  to  the  first 
governmental  machinery  was  the  so-called  Topeka  Government, 
supported  by  the  anti-slavery  elements,  but  having  no  legal 
status.3  Few  men  cared  to  undertake  the  Governorship  of  so  dis- 
tracted a  region. 

At  the  outset  of  the  Buchanan  Administration,  Robert  J. 
Walker,  a  one-time  resident  of  Mississippi,  but  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, reluctantly  accepted  the  thorny  task.  The  appointment 
was  unfortunate.  For  though  Walker  was  a  man  of  parts,  hav- 
ing made  a  good  record  as  Secretary  of  Treasury  in  the  days  of 
Polk,  he  was  a  man  of  far-reaching  personal  ambition,  and  lack- 

2  Buchanan  to  Toucey,  Wheatland,  July  2,  1850.     H.  S.  P. 

3  See  the  reply  to  the  Silliman  letter,  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  199-201. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     23 

ing  in  patience  and  tact.  He  was  supposed  to  keep  aloof  from 
both  factions  in  the  Territory.  Soon,  however,  Southern  leaders 
read  that  Walker  had  made  some  statements  unfavorable  to  the 
institution  4  of  slavery  in  Kansas,  and  seemed  to  strongly  favor 
a  popular  vote,  or  ratification,  on  the  work  of  the  Lecompton 
Convention.  All  this,  they  were  convinced,  indicated  that  Walker 
was  the  friend  of  those  who  were  trying  to  keep  them  from  their 
share  of  the  territories.  Seward 5  was  convinced  that  Walker 
was  trying  to  make  political  capital  for  himself  out  of  the  Kansas 
question.  The  Cabinet  soon  came  to  the  same  conclusion  6  and 
voiced  it  to  their  chief. 

Walker's  ambitions  and  policies  were  ill-calculated  to  insure 
success.  He  tried  to  control  Buchanan's  choice  of  appointments 
in  Kansas ; 7  he  failed  to  persuade  the  Free  State  men  to  vote  for 
delegates  for  the  Lecompton  Convention  with  the  result  that  it 
was  in  hands  of  the  pro-Slavery  men. 

The  failure  was  not  unnatural,  due  to  the  heated  condition  of 
the  public  mind  at  the  time.  He  meddled  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Territorial  Legislature,  ousting  some  of  the  members  whose  right 
to  sit  was  doubtful.  The  pro-Slavery  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion held  that  such  actions  of  Walker  were  plain  usurpations  of 
executive  power  to  aid  anti-Slavery.     He  next  questioned  an  in- 

*E.g.,  Robert  Toombs  to  W.  W.  Burwell,  July  7,  1857,  A.  H.  A.,  1916, 
Vol.  II,  p.  433. 

5  "  There  is  some  room  to  think  that  our  political  affairs  at  home  are  to 
undergo  some  new  complications.  Mr.  Robert  J.  Walker  and  his  Secretary, 
Mr.  F.  P.  Stanton,  are  uncommon  men,  independent,  self-seeking,  and  quite 
ambitious.  They  don't  mean  to  play  parts  subordinate  and  ministering  to 
the  ambitions  of  Cass,  Buchanan,  March,  Douglas,  or  other  aspirants  as 
their  predecessors  have,  but  to  establish  a  power  of  their  own.  Walker  sees 
his  way  through  the  governorship  of  Kansas  to  the  Senate,  and  through  the 
Senate  to  the  Presidency.  I  am  to  give  a  private  conference  today  at  one. 
He  lets  me  think,  if  I  will,  that  he  will  be  content  to  let  Kansas  reverse  the 
contest  in  favor  of  freedom  only  stipulating  gentleness,  prudence  and  in- 
demnity. I  shall  be  wiser,  and  perhaps  he,  after  we  meet.  But  this,  too,  is 
for  your  own  private  ear."  Seward  in  a  letter  to  his  son  just  before  Walker 
left  for  Kansas,  Frederick  W.  Seward,  "  Seward  at  Washington,"  New 
York,  1891,  Vol.  II,  p.  299.  This  shows  that  the  South  had  need  to  watch 
Walker. 

6  See  letters  of  Cass  and  Floyd  in  appendix. 

7  Walker  to  Buchanan,  June  28,  1857,  H.  S.  P. 


24  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

junction  of  a  Democratic  judge8  who  ordered  him  to  re-seat 
the  same  members.  His  unpopularity  with  the  Convention  be- 
came so  marked  that  he  lost  every  vestige  of  influence  he  had  with 
them,  and  left  the  Territory.9  Through  such  tactless  conduct,  all 
the  influence  of  the  Administration  was  lost  where  it  was  most 
needed.  Buchanan  10  had  hoped  that  Walker  would  get  the  Con- 
vention to  send  the  entire  Constitution  back  to  the  voters,  but 
Walker  had  failed,  and  instead  of  retiring  gracefully,  proceeded 
to  blame  the  Administration,  or  its  friends,  for  his  lack  of  suc- 
cess, and  to  further  his  own  interests  X1  with  its  opponents. 

8  Judge  Cato,  see  Sen.  Ex.  Doc.,  35  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Vol.  I,  no.  8. 

9  Covode,  p.  162. 

10  Covode,  pp.  116,  117. 

11  Walker  realized  that  his  step  in  throwing  out  returns  of  the  legislature 
had  been  one  of  very  doubtful  authority.  Nevertheless  he  was  persuaded 
by  George  W.  Brown  (and  perhaps  others),  a  Free  Soil  Democrat  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  editor  of  the  "  Herald  of  Freedom,"  that  in  case  he  did 
not  throw  out  those  returns  a  civil  war  supported  by  the  Republican  party 
in  the  North  would  immediately  result.  Brown  later  claimed  that  he  did 
not  believe  all  he  told  Walker.  The  Governor  evidently  believed  that  there 
was  no  way  for  his  ambitions  left  but  to  join  the  conservative  wing  of  the 
Anti-Slavery  party.  Furthermore  he  did  not  intend  to  lose  anything  by 
this  venture.  On  this  occasion  he  said  to  Brown :  "...  And,  Mr.  Brown, 
I  am  frank  to  say  that  I  have  political  aspirations  of  my  own,  after  Kansas 
is  admitted  into  the  Union.  My  people  in  the  South  have  gone  back  on  me, 
and  my  future  hope  of  position  rests  with  the  people  of  Kansas.  Will  you 
aid  me  in  your  paper  ?  " 

"  When  we  are  admitted  a  State  under  other  than  the  proposed  Lecompton 
Constitution,  if  there  is  any  place  in  the  government  you  wish,  from  the 
United  States  Senator  down,  if  I  can  aid  you  to  it,  it  is  yours." 

Walker  dictated  an  editorial,  supposed  to  have  come  from  a  third  party, 
for  the  Herald,  calling  him,  the  Governor,  to  throw  out  the  bogus  returns. 
Shortly  afterwards,  accompanied  by  Stanton,  he  inspected  the  districts. 
Stanton  was  psychologically  a  Free-state  convert,  as  he  had  resolved  to 
settle  among  them.  He  seemed  to  care  little  for  the  legalities  of  the  situa- 
tion. Seward's  remarks  had  proved  correct.  (George  W.  Brown,  "  Remi- 
niscences of  Robert  J.  Walker,"  Rockford,  Illinois,  1902.  See  also  by  the 
same  author,  "  False  Claims  of  Kansas  Historians  Truthfully  Corrected," 
Rockford,  1902.)  Mr.  Brown  ably  presents  the  case  for  the  pacific  wing  of 
the  Anti-slavery  group.  He  was  not  correctly  informed  of  the  state  of 
things  at  Washington  nor  does  he  say  much  of  the  Fort  Scott  troubles  in 
his  account  of  Walker.  He  shows  that  certain  press  agents  thrived  in 
making  trouble  by  abetting  the  radical  Anti-slavery  element.     This  would 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM      25 

Walker  was  not  asked  to  resign.  It  was  suggested  to  Buchanan 
that  he  be  transferred.12  His  resignation  was  a  political  docu- 
ment 13  against  the  Administration  because  it  had  refused  to  ac- 
cept his  advice,  and  force  a  popular  ratification  on  the  Lecompton 
Constitution.  Cass,14  in  reply,  gave  the  Governor  a  well-merited 
rebuke.  Walker's  successor,  his  Secretary  Stanton  (not  Edwin 
M.  Stanton),  was  of  like  mind,  and,  in  defiance  of  instructions 
from  Washington,  convened  the  Territorial  Legislature  before  it 
was  due.     For  this  affrontery  he  was  removed. 

After  their  break  with  the  Administration,  Walker  and  Stanton 
gloried  in  the  "  martyrdom  "  (  ?)  before  appreciative  audiences.15 
Having  reached  Washington,  Walker  accused  the  Cabinet  of  plot- 
ting against  him.16  All  such  accusations  were  in  error,  although 
he  was  not  popular  with  that  body.17  Buchanan  even  took  pains 
to  invite  him  to  the  White  House,18  but  such  courtesy  did  not 
prevent  Walker  from  trying  to  injure  him  in  the  Covode  Investi- 
gation. 

It  was  only  human  for  Walker  to  have  political  ambitions.  He 
stood  for  himself  first  and  the  Administration  afterwards.  It  is 
one  of  the  absurdities  of  history  to  consider  him  a  victim  of  the 
Administration,  when  he  was  the  victim  of  his  own  dreams  of  a 
grand  role.  The  Administration's  attitude  was  quite  the  opposite 
to  the  impression  he  tried  to  create.  Walker's  checkered  policy 
was  futile.     He  was  not  greatly  elevated  by  his  new  allies.     It 

in  turn  indicate  that  the  files  of  the  Abolition  newspapers  of  the  time  would 
not  be  very  accurate  history,  e.g.,  ibid.,  p.  157. 

12  E.g.,  Frances  Pickens  to  Buchanan,  White  Sulphur  Springs,  Va.,  Au- 
gust 5,  1857,  H.  S.  P. 

13> 14  See  Sen.  Ex.  Doc.  35  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Vol.  I,  no.  8,  p.  132  seq. 

15  For  a  typical  speech  by  Walker,  see  Hartford  Weekly  Courant,  March 
21  and  28,  i860. 

16  E.g.,  Covode,  p.  1 14.  Douglas  asserted  that  there  was  a  Cabinet  plot 
to  ruin  him  (Douglas),  Horace  White,  "Life  of  Lyman  Trumbul,"  Boston, 
1913,  p.  74- 

17  E.g.,  Cobb,  A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  427;  Thompson  has  shown  to 
have  favored  complete  submission,  or  if  that  failed  partial  submission.  On 
a  letter  from  Wise  to  Buchanan  charging  him  with  a  plot,  he  wrote  that 
it  was  a  lie.  See  Wise-Buchanan  with  Thompson's  notes,  Dec.  17,  1857, 
H.  S.  P.     See  Appendix. 

18  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  321 ;  Covode,  p.  114. 


26  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

would  perhaps  be  possible  for  a  biographer  to  build  much  of  the 
history  of  Kansas  in  1857  around  the  fires  of  his  unrealized  hopes. 
In  1876  he  died,  his  greater  ambitions  still  unfulfilled. 

Much  ado  has  been  made  by  foes  of  the  Buchanan  Administra- 
tion over  the  fact  that  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was  not  en- 
tirely referred  to  the  voters  before  it  was  presented  to  Congress 
by  the  President  and  his  party.  There  has  also  been  the  cry  of 
trickery  over  the  material  that  was  submitted  to  the  voters.  The 
voters  had  been  given  the  privilege  of  voting  for  the  Constitution 
with  or  without  slavery.  If  they  voted  the  latter,  the  remaining 
parts  of  the  Constitution  protected  the  existing  slave  property  al- 
ready in  Kansas  and  amendment  of  the  said  portion  was  pro- 
hibited for  some  years.  All  such  language  was  after  all  vain 
talk,  and  verbiage  in  view  of  the  actual  situation.  Still  it  was 
enough  to  keep  or  to  give  an  excuse  for  keeping  the  Free  State 
vote  away  from  the  polls,  and  to  send  the  Constitution  with 
slavery  to  Washington.  It  also  gave  the  foes  of  the  Administra- 
tion the  opportunity  to  raise  a  campaign  cry  of  trickery  in  Kansas. 

Buchanan's  reasons  for  trying  to  rush  Kansas  into  statehood 
by  means  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  were  political  for  the 
most  part,  but  he  had  good  legal  reasons  for  his  course  as  well. 
"  The  Constitution  was  republican  in  form,  and  it  had  been  voted 
on  in  a  free  and  open  ballot,  which  the  Convention  had  directed 
to  be  taken  on  the  all  important  question  of  slavery."  18a  Gradual 
abolition  would  have  resulted  had  the  people  voted  for  the  Con- 
stitution "  without  Slavery."  19  Such  a  plan  had  once  satisfied 
the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  Organic  Act  did  not  require  the  submission  of  any  of  the 
work  of  the  Convention  to  the  voters.20  True,  the  North  had 
generally  done  so  for  sometime  in  the  case  of  state  constitutions, 
but  the  South  had  frequently  held  such  proceedings  unnecessary. 
Even  in  Northern  states,  earlier  precedents  of  the  same  nature 
could  be  found.21 

18a  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  206. 

19  Wilson  Leverett  Spring,  "  Kansas,"  Boston,  1892,  p.  223. 

20  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  201. 

21  Edward  Mayes,  "  Life  of  Lucius  Quintus  Cassius  Lamar,"  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  1896,  p.  68  note. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     27 

It  must  have  been  plain  to  the  intelligent  enemies  of  the  Ad- 
ministration that  they  were  making  "  much  ado  about  nothing," 
or  else  casting  dust  in  the  eyes  of  their  followers.  Most  of  the 
Southern  leaders  in  Congress  openly  said  that  Kansas  would 
never  become  a  slave  state.22  Once  Kansas  was  invested  with  the 
rights  of  a  sovereign  statehood,  the  Federal  Government  could 
no  more  concern  itself  with  its  domestic  institutions  such  as  the 
property  of  its  slaveholders.  Federal  troops  and  officials  would 
leave  the  region.  The  people  of  Kansas  could  do  whatever  they 
pleased  with  their  own  affairs.  The  Bill  of  Rights  of  the  Le- 
compton  Constitution  declared  that  the  people  could  alter  or 
abolish  their  form  of  government.  Whatever  distasteful  pro- 
visions on  the  subject  of  slavery  the  Constitution  might  contain, 
they  were  completely  at  the  mercy  of  their  sovereign  will.  No 
fetters  could  be  placed  upon  the  powers  of  the  people  of  Kansas 
acting  in  a  sovereign  capacity.2241  Buchanan  indicated  all  these 
things  23  clearly,  but  the  Republicans  were  determined  that  their 
pet  issue  should  not  be  thus  easily  laid  at  rest.  Black  expressed 
the  sentiments  of  most  Democrats  when  he  wrathfully  alluded  to 
the  matter  as  "  the  knavish  trick  of  the  abolitionists  in  prevent- 
ing a  vote  on  slavery,  by  which  it  would  have  been  expelled  from 
Kansas,  and  the  whole  trouble  settled  in  the  way  they  pretended 
to  wish."  24 

To  the  loyal  Democrats  of  the  time,  much  of  the  Congressional 
opposition  came  not  from  pious  ignorance  or  bigoted  fanaticism, 
but  from  the  most  cynical  and  sinister  hyprocrisy.  Better  that 
the  Kansas  issue  be  kept  alive  to  bleed,  than  that  the  Republican 
party  perish  from  lack  of  nourishment.  Better  still,  the  Ad- 
ministration might  be  badly  injured  by  the  continued  bleeding. 

Instead  of  censuring  the  President  for  trying  to  make  a  state 
of  Kansas,  by  means  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  for  the  sake 

22  E.g.,  see  Crump  letter  in  appendix. 

22a  The  State  of  New  York  was  then,  "  governed  under  a  constitution 
framed  and  established  in  direct  opposition  to  the  mode  prescribed  by  the 
previous  constitution."  J.  Buchanan  Henry,  editor,  "  The  Messages  of 
President  Buchanan,"  New  York,  1888,  p.  189. 

23  For  Buchanan's  Messages  see  Moore,  Vol.  X,  pp.  179-192. 

24  Chauncy  F.  Black,  "  Essays  and  Speeches  of  Jeremiah  S.  Black,"  New 
York,  1885,  p.  273. 


28  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

of  peace  in  the  Union,  it  would  be  more  just  to  blame  the  Free 
State  voters  of  Kansas,  who,  by  staying  from  the  election  of 
delegates  to  the  Lecompton  Convention,  gave  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  a  chance  to  come  into  existence. 

It  might  also  be  mentioned,  that  Buchanan  had  in  his  posses- 
sion reports  of  atrocities  by  Anti-slavery  persons  which  rivalled 
those  gruesome  accounts,  so  carefully  preserved  to  us  in  texts, 
by  Anti-slavery  historians.25  Some  of  the  protests  were  written, 
not  by  Southern  partisans,  but  by  a  Pennsylvania  Democrat, 
whom  Buchanan  had  made  a  Federal  judge  in  the  Territory. 
To  charge  Buchanan  with  desiring  to  see  the  institution  of 
Slavery  established  in  Kansas  Territory,  would  be  to  allow  the 
emotions  to  usurp  the  realm  of  one's  historical  judgment.  It  has 
already  been  shown  that  he  was,  at  first,  opposed  to  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  line,  and  that  he  hoped  for  the  gradual  extinction  26 
of  slavery  which  he  had  publicly  held  to  be  a  social  misfortune.27 
The  remarks  of  Buchanan's  friend,  Judge  Catron,  cast  further 
light  upon  this  phase  of  the  subject : 

No,  there  was  no  expectation,  and,  I  do  not  believe,  desire,  on 
the  part  of  the  present  administration,  to  make  it  a  slave  state, 
but  as  he  (Buchanan)  had  already  been  pestered  to  death  with  it, 
he  resolved  to  make  it  a  state  as  soon  as  possible,  and  thus  be  rid 
of  it,  let  them  fight  it  out  as  they  liked.  In  this  mood  the  South- 
ern members  found  him  when  the  news  came  of  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  being  framed,  and  he  committed,  thinking  no  doubt 
that  Douglas  would  be  hot  for  it,  and  that  there  would  be  no  gen- 
eral opposition  in  his  own  party  to  it.28 

It  is  also  pertinent  that  Buchanan  gladly  supported  29  Governor 
Denver,  Stanton's  successor,  although  Denver  was  no  friend  of 
slavery,  and  continued  many  of  the  policies  of  Walker.  Denver  30 
had  tact,  and  was  not  trying  to  make  a  political  record.  He  was 
respected  by  the  people,  and  left  conditions  far  better  than  he 

25  See  the  appendix  for  a  letter  of  Judge  Williams  to  Attorney  General 
giving  a  detailed  account  of  some  Lane  outrages  in  the  Territory. 

26  E.g.,  see  letter  to  Flinn  above. 

27  Buchanan,  Introduction,  p.  I. 

28  Horace  White,  "  Life  of  Lyman  Trumbul,"  Boston,  1913,  pp.  84,  85. 

2f>,  30  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  203;  for  address  by  Denver  see  Kas.  Hist.  Asso- 
ciation Rpt.,  1883-4,  PP-  351,  352,  362. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     29 

found  them.  The  next  Governor  was  Samuel  Medary,  a  North- 
ern Democrat,  under  whom  the  political  situation  continued  to 
improve.  In  February,  1861,  Kansas  became  a  state.  At  that 
time  Buchanan  signed  the  bill  admitting  Kansas  under  a  Free- 
state  constitution.  This  was  perfectly  consistent  with  his  attitude 
in  the  earlier  phases  of  the  question,  and  again  indicated,  that 
whatever  preference  he  held  for  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  was 
not  due  to  its  slavery  provisions. 

The  motives  of  Buchanan's  policy  during  this  period  have  been 
hinted  at,  but  still  remain  for  a  more  careful  analysis.  Anyone 
who  had  followed  Buchanan's  political  record  would  have  noticed 
certain  out-standing  habits  of  thought  which  were  bound  to  show 
themselves  in  his  Kansas  policy.  There  was  his  long-rooted  and 
ever  deepening  conviction  that  the  Abolitionists  and  their  politi- 
cal allies,  the  Republicans,  were  bringing  the  country  to  its  ruin. 
His  publicly  proclaimed  devotion  to  securing  the  South  her  con- 
stitutional rights  in  the  Union  has  already  been  shown.31  He 
loved  the  Union,  his  political  fortunes  were  entwined  with  its 
perpetuity.  He  also  knew  that  no  Union  could  peacefully  endure 
where  the  property  rights  of  a  large  portion  of  its  inhabitants  and 
perhaps  their  lives  would  not  be  protected.  The  application  of 
these  three  ideas :  the  convictions  of  the  dangers  of  Abolition  to 
the  Union ;  the  preservation  the  Union ;  the  protection  of  South- 
ern constitutional  rights  therein,  plus  a  strong  feeling  of  friend- 
ship, born  of  years  of  acquaintance  with  Southern  statesmen, 
were  bound  to  come  into  play  in  any  situation  like  that  of  the 
problem  of  Kansas. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  Buchanan  was  opposed  to  stir- 
ring up  the  Slavery  Question.  Despite  his  advice,32  the  party 
had  accepted  the  Compromise  of  1850  and  the  later  Kansas-Ne- 
braska Bill.  In  each  case  he  had  accepted  a  decision  which  he 
deemed  of  doubtful  advisability.  He  was  a  strict  party  man, 
and  said  in  i860  that  he  had  never  bolted  a  Democratic  ticket.33 

As  early  as  1850,  Buchanan  had  been  among  those  who  hoped 

31  E.g.,  Moore,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  372. 

32  E.g.,  A.  H.  A.,  Vol.  V,  pp.  101-2,  Moore,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  372,  letter  to 
Flinn  above. 

33  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  290. 


/ 


30  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

that  the  Supreme  Court  would  settle  the  question  34  of  the  status 
of  slaves  in  the  territories.  It  was  no  idle  expression  when  he 
said,  in  1856,  in  his  Letter  of  Acceptance,  that  he  accepted  the 
nomination,  not  as  James  Buchanan,  but  as  the  candidate  of  the 
Democratic  Party.35  He  could  remember  the  time  when  he  had 
been  at  first  opposed  to  the  changes  of  1850. 

The  Cincinnati  platform  of  1856  had  not  answered  the  ques- 
tion of  whether  the  Federal  Constitution  protected  slavery  in  the 
territories  before  the  people  prepared  their  state  constitution  for 
the  purpose  of  entering  the  Union.  The  case  of  Dred  Scott  was 
on  the  docket,  and  men  of  States  Rights  views  were  on  the  bench. 
Many  Democrats  looked  to  a  decision  which,  even  if  not  entirely 
satisfactory,  would  get  acceptance  and  thus  preserve  unity  of  the 
party. 

Buchanan  was  among  those  who  sought  to  be  delivered  by  the 
Decision.  His  friend  Catron 36  posted  him  while  he  was  still 
President-elect  because  he  was  very  anxious  to  stear  by  its  com- 
pass. It  was  an  ill  stroke  of  fate,  however,  when  due  to  sickness 
of  one  of  the  Judges,  the  decision  was  delayed  until  after  his 
inauguration.  That  gave  his  foes  the  chance  to  cry  conspiracy. 
There  was  none,  but  the  majority  of  the  court,  goaded  by  the 
minority,  decided  to  declare  themselves  fully  on  all  the  points  in- 
volved. It  was  the  minority  who  first  decided  to  do  this.  The  re- 
sult was  that  the  decision  gave  protection  to  all  slave  property  as 
well  as  other  property  while  territories  remained  in  their  territorial 
condition. 

Buchanan  had  long  felt  that  a  crisis  was  coming.  He  and 
Slidell 37  had  discussed  it  before  the  campaign.  To  a  Pennsyl- 
vania friend  he  had  said  in  1856: 

I  had  hoped  for  the  nomination  in  1844,  again  in  1848,  and 
even  in  1852,  but  now  I  would  hesitate  to  take  it.  Before  many 
years  the  Abolitionists  will  bring  war  upon  the  land.  It  may 
come  during  the  next  Presidential  term.38 

34  See  Flinn  letter  above. 

35  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  81. 

36  Moore,  Vol.  X,  pp.  106,  107,  and  Catron  letters,  H.  S.  P. 

37  Louis  M.  Sears,  "  John  Slidell,"  or  A.  H.  R.,  July,  1922,  p.  723- 

38  Burr  on  Black,  Philadelphia  Press,  March  16,  1882. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     31 

In  1856  Buchanan  had  privately  and  publicly  said  that  his 
mission  would  be  to  destroy  sectionalism  everywhere,  and  bring 
back  the  good  old  times.39  To  his  mind  and  many  of  those  of 
conservative  leanings,  his  election  had  saved  the  Union. 

The  decision  of  the  Court  had  now  settled  the  question.40  The 
status  of  slavery  in  the  territories  had  passed  from  the  realm  of 
politics  to  the  realm  of  law.  Slavery  was  henceforth  a  question 
of  property  perhaps  more  than  one  of  politics.  People  who  would 
still  question  the  matter  were,  to  Buchanan,  the  enemies  of  law 
and  order.41  There  are  writers  who  believe  that  his  policy  was 
actuated  solely  by  the  desire  to  avert  disunion.  If  this  were  the 
sole  reason,  it  would  have  been  sufficient,  and  would  have  been 
only  his  plain  duty,  as  the  South  was  only  asking  for  its  legal 
rights.  Yet  that  fact  alone  does  not  thoroughly  state  the  Presi- 
dent's position.  It  would  neglect  the  fact  that  he  had  been  the 
willing  advocate  of  Southern  rights  for  nearly  half  a  century. 
True,  he  was  wont  to  use  the  Union  argument,  and  in  all  sincerity, 
on  Northern  men,  who  cared  more  for  their  own  political  fences  42 

39  E.g.,  address  to  the  students  of  Franklin  and  Marshall  College  at  Lan- 
caster, Pa.,  reported  in  the  New  York  Herald,  Dec.  3,  1856. 

40  E.g.,  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  206. 

Buchanan  in  i860:  "...  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  have 
decided, — what  was  known  to  us  all  to  have  been  the  existing  state  of  affairs 
for  fifty  years, — that  slaves  are  property.  Admit  that  fact,  and  you  admit 
everything.  ..."  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  293. 

Buchanan,  in  a  draft  of  his  first  message  on  Kansas,  denied  what  Douglas 
still  tried  to  hold  after  the  Decision, — that  the  lack  of  local  regulations,  or 
hostile  local  legislation  would  keep  slavery  from  the  Territories.  Buchanan 
held: 

"  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Legislature  of  the  Territories  by  hostile 
enactments.  .  .  .  Territorial  legislature  might  interfere  .  .  .  might  virtually 
abolish  such  property  in  slaves  indirectly  by.  .  .  . 

Besides  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  the  members  of  such  bodies  would 
resort  to  such  an  expedient  in  violation  of  their  solemn  oaths  to  support  the 
constitution,  and  if  they  did,  such  acts  would  be  annulities  and  have  no 
effect. 

What  the  constitution  recognizes  to  be  property,  the  Constitution  can  pro- 
tect through  the  agency  of  the  Federal  Courts  in  despite  of  Territorial  legis- 
lation. ..."  (H.  S.  P.) 

41  Buchanan  in  Moore,  Vol.  XII,  p.  332. 

42  E.g.,  Covode,  p.  271. 


32  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

than  for  a  square  deal  to  the  other  section  of  the  Union.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  excitement  in  the  South  has  been  too  often  under- 
estimated by  Northern  writers. 

The  people  of  Kansas  had  lost  all  of  the  President's  confidence 
as  a  result  of  their  failure  to  vote  for  delegates  to  the  Lecompton 
Convention.  The  South  was  under  the  spell  of  the  Fire-eaters, 
who  claimed  that  their  section  had  been  tricked  out  of  its  share 
of  the  Territories.  Southern  leaders  at  Washington  felt  forced 
to  demand  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  although  they  said  Kansas 
could  never  become  a  slave  state.43  In  the  whole  struggle,  the 
South  showed  too  much  reading  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  his 
quick-to-draw  heroes,  while  the  Republicans  mixed  the  most 
bigoted  fanaticism  with  the  most  selfish  hypocrisy. 

The  Republicans  were  stubbornly  determined  to  live  and  defy 
the  Decision  of  the  Court  which  had  been  to  them  almost  a  politi- 
cal death  sentence.  Too  many  of  them  used  Abolition  as  a  means 
to  political  ends.  In  the  minds  of  many  honest  Democrats,  they 
were  guilty  of  the  most  incendiary  hypocrisy.44  The  expression 
of  Black  has  already  been  noticed.  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  the 
fearless  leader  of  the  Hunker  Democracy  in  New  York  State, 
ably  expressed  the  prevailing  opinion  of  the  conservative  Demo- 
crats. 

The  opposition,  just  now  so  fretfully  conspicuous,  was  deter- 
mined on  before  you  were  inaugurated,  and  the  development  is 
made  through  the  Kansas  question,  because  it  promised  better  re- 
turns than  anything  else.  It  was  the  imperative  duty  of  every 
good  citizen,  and  especially  of  every  Democrat,  to  aid  you  in 
abating  this  Kansas  nuisance  by  every  energy  within  his  power, 
and  to  help  throw  it  out  of  the  doors  of  Congress,  and  send  it 
home  for  adjustment  there,  at  the  earliest  moment.  But  instead 
of  this,  Senators  and  Governors  unite  with,  nay  out-Herod  the 
Greeleys,  Jim  Lanes  and  Topekaites  generally,  in  casting  fresh 
fire-brands  into  the  federal  legislature  and  embroiling  the  coun- 
try over  abstract  and  bootless  issues.  .  .  .44a 

43  E.g.,  Slidell  in  John  Savage's  "  Living  Representative  Men,"  Philadel- 
phia, i860,  p.  446.     See  also  Crump  letter  in  appendix. 

44  See  quotation  from  Black  above,  also  his  letter  to  Judge  Woodward, 
Chapter  IV. 

44a  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  to  Buchanan,  Dec.  26,  1857.    H.  S.  P. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     33 

Reports  from  the  Territory  coming  in  to  the  Administration 
then,  and  during  the  debate,  showed  the  President  the  need  of 
prompt  and  the  most  vigorous  action.  No  Democrat,  no  true 
lover  of  peace,  failed  to  see  that  Kansas  once  admitted,  the  choic- 
est weapons  of  the  Republican's  would  be  taken  away ; 45  the 
Democratic  Party  saved ;  and  the  Union  preserved.  The  Re- 
publicans saw  it  equally  well,  and  in  their  zeal  for  power  used 
every  means  to  prolong  the  bleeding  in  Kansas.46  Many  obscure 
persons  who  knew  little  of  party  politics,  and  who  failed  to  un- 
derstand the  technicalities  of  the  issue,  felt  that  they  were  in  a 
holy  cause.  Such  self-deception,  however,  could  hardly  have 
motivated  the  more  practical  of  their  leaders. 

In  view  of  all  these  considerations,  it  was  but  natural  that  Bu- 
chanan and  his  followers  should  seek  to  put  the  matter  through 
Congress  as  soon  as  they  could.  Douglas  came  out  in  opposition. 
This  made  him  so  popular  with  Greeley  that,  had  it  not  been  for 
Lincoln,  he  might  have  become  the  adopted  member  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  his  home  state.  In  order  to  win  back  the  sup- 
port in  the  North,  the  Administration  aided  by  Toombs  47  tried 
to  pass  an  explanatory  amendment,  which  would  give  the  people 
additional  assurance  that  they  could  do  as  they  pleased  when 
they  had  become  a  state.  Such  assurance  was  superfluous,  but 
there  was  hope  that  it  might  remove  opposition  to  the  issue. 
When  this  plan  did  not  succeed,  the  Administration  tried  the 
English  Bill. 

This  bill  sent  the  Lecompton  Constitution  back  to  the  voters 
with  a  land  grant.  If  Kansas  was  to  vote  in  the  negative,  she 
was  to  remain  a  territory  until  her  population  was  sufficient  to 
send  a  member  to  the  House.  Professor  Frank  Haywood  Hod- 
der 48  has  exposed  the  myth  that  this  bill  was  a  bribe  to  the  people 
of  Kansas  because  it  offered  them  a  land  grant  along  with  the 
Lecompton  Constitution.  Professor  Hodder  has  shown  that  Mr. 
Henry  Wilson,  who  made  the  charge,  in  his  "  Rise  and  Fall  of 
the  Slave  Power,"  rearranged  a  speech  of  one  of  the  members  of 

45  E.g.,  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  225. 

46  See  44a  and  Williams  letters  in  appendix. 

47  A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  432.     Toombs'  note  is  also  in  H.  S.  P. 

48  A.  H.  A.,  1906,  Vol.  I,  pp.  201-210. 


34  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Congress  to  suit  his  purposes ;  that  the  grant  was  not  unusual  in 
size,  being  identical  to  that  offered  Minnesota  in  the  year  previous  ; 
that  the  final  bill  of  1861  making  Kansas  a  Free  State,  which  was 
signed  by  Buchanan,  contained  like  provisions ;  that  Congress 
under  the  Republicans  adopted  the  policy  of  delaying  would-be 
States  until  their  population  was  sufficient  to  send  a  member  to 
the  House ;  that  no  one  claimed  that  Kansas  would  ultimately  lose 
the  land  if  she  rejected  the  Constitution. 

The  remarks  of  Buchanan,  and  of  his  Cabinet,  give  ample  proof 
of  the  real  purpose  of  the  Bill.  Buchanan  wrote  Denver,49  the 
able  and  moderate  successor  of  Stanton  and  Walker,  in  the  initial 
stages  of  the  struggle  that  if  Lecompton  failed,  no  settlement 
could  be  reached  before  i860,  with  the  results  that  the  material 
interests  of  Kansas  would  be  "  the  sport  and  capital  of  the  Black 
Republicans  in  the  Presidential  Election  of  i860."  49  Black  said 
of  the  English  Bill,  "  Those  of  them  who  were  willing  to  give  a 
fair  support  to  the  administration,  and  to  regard  the  English  Bill 
as  a  settlement,  ought  to  be  conciliated,  treated  kindly,  and  sup- 
ported." 50  Post  Master  General  Brown  seems  to  have  let  it 
generally  be  known  that  any  person  in  rebellion  against  the  party 
would  be  welcomed  if  they  stood  for  the  Bill.51  Yancey's  biog- 
rapher states  that  it  was  a  concession  demanded  by  Buchanan  of 
the  Southern  Democracy  to  save  the  party  in  the  North.52  That 
statement  really  sums  up  the  whole  matter.  Quitman's  biogra- 
pher states  practically  the  same  thing.53 

Douglas,  according  to  news  forwarded  to  Buchanan  by  Senator 
Gwin  of  California,54  was  undecided  for  about  a  week  as  to 
whether  to  smoke  the  peace  pipe  or  not.  Then,  due  to  pressure 
brought  upon  him  by  Senator  Broderick  (Gwin's  political  enemy), 
and  others  of  his  group,  he  refused  it.  This  was  a  great  mis- 
fortune to  the   Northern   Democracy.     By   this  time  the   Free- 

40  Buchanan  to  Governor  Denver,  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  203. 

50  Covode,  pp.  323,  324. 

51  Covode,  p.  229. 

52  John  Witherspoon  Dubose,  "  Life  and  Times  of  William  Lowndes 
Yancey,"  Birmingham,  Ala.,  1892,  p.  355. 

53  John  Francis  H.  Claiborne,  "  Life  and  Correspondence  of  John  A. 
Quitman,"  New  York,  i860,  p.  274. 

54  Note  of  Buchanan  from  Senator  Gwin.     H.  S.  P. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     35 

state  men  in  Kansas  were  ready  to  vote  and  the  Lecompton  Con- 
stitution was  rejected.  Governor  Medary,55  Denver's  successor, 
was  able  to  report,  at  the  close  of  1858,  that  Kansas  was  behaving 
herself,  and  was  no  longer  a  subject  for  Buchanan's  enemies  to 
weep  over. 

In  1 861  Buchanan  signed  the  bill  admitting  Kansas  as  a  free- 
state.56  His  attitude  had  been  consistent  from  the  beginning,  for 
during  the  entire  trouble  he  had  striven  for  a  settlement  which 
would  be  accepted  in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

It  was  the  ambition  of  Douglas,  or  perhaps  his  desire  to  sustain 
himself  in  Illinois,  far  more  than  the  echoes  of  "  Bleeding  Kan- 
sas," which  fatally  divided  the  Democracy. 

In  spite  of  the  hostile  criticism  then  and  since,  President  Bu- 
chanan had  the  satisfaction  of  having  followed  the  iron  path  of 
public  duty.  The  storm  had  passed,  and  the  sky  seemed  to  clear, 
but  it  proved  to  be  a  lull  before  an  even  greater  tempest. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  II 

Letters  Pertaining  to  Kansas  Affairs  and  Cabinet 
Relations 

Note:  Composition  of  the  Cabinet:  Buchanan  had  carefully 
selected  his  Cabinet  with  attention  to  political  reasons  and  social 
traits.  The  latter  he  held  essential  in  getting  on  well  with  the 
Congressmen.  Cass,  although  he  had  a  certain  amount  of  Bu- 
chanan's dislike  for  his  friendly  relations  with  the  hostile  Cameron 
group  in  the  Keystone  State,  was  urged  by  Slidell  as  the  best 
available  man  to  represent  the  Northwest.  Buchanan  was  virtu- 
ally his  own  Secretary  of  State,  and  it  was  arranged  for  Bu- 
chanan to  appoint  Cass's  principal  assistant  in  the  department, 
John  Appleton  of  Maine,  a  friend  of  long  standing.  Cobb  was 
a  Georgia  "  Union  Saver  "  who  had  been  prominent  in  his  state 
and  in  Congress.  Floyd  was  popular  with  the  Wise  faction  in 
Virginia.  Thompson  was  a  friend  of  the  Davis  group  in  Missis- 
sippi. Aaron  V.  Brown,  Post-Master  General,  was  an  amiable  and 
wealthy  native  of   Tennessee.     He  died  in   1859  ar*d  was   suc- 

56  Medary  to  Buchanan,  Dec.  15,  1858;  Jan.  4,  16;  Feb.  21,  1859.     H.  S.  P. 

56  Richardson,  V,  pp.  646,  647. 


36  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

ceeded  by  Thompson's  friend,  Joseph  Holt  of  the  same  state.  J. 
Glancey  Jones  of  Pennsylvania  had  been  slated  for  the  cabinet; 
but,  due  to  the  opposition  of  the  Forney  faction,  he  was  induced 
to  withdraw,  and  Jeremiah  Sullivan  Black,  a  long  acquaintance 
of  Buchanan,  was  selected.  He  had  been  more  of  a  jurist  than 
a  politician,  and  for  that  reason  was  the  more  acceptable.  Isaac 
Toucey,  a  brilliant  Connecticut  lawyer  and  politician,  and  Nathan 
Clifford  of  Maine  were  considered.  Slidell  favored  Toucey,  who 
had  been  for  a  time  Attorney-General  under  Polk.  He  was  finally 
chosen,  and  Clifford  was,  in  1859,  put  on  the  Supreme  Court 
bench,  where  he  fully  justified  Buchanan's  opinion  of  his  fitness 
for  the  post.  The  failure  to  find  a  Cabinet  place  for  the  journal- 
ist, John  W.  Forney,  because  of  Southern  opposition  to  him, 
caused  Buchanan  considerable  trouble  in  Pennsylvania.  Forney 
became  an  ardent  Republican  at  a  later  date,  and  long  continued 
in  politics  under  their  banner. 

When  Wise,  to  Buchanan's  sorrow,  left  him  over  the  Kansas 
dispute,  Floyd  remained  zealously  loyal.  So  did  the  Tyler  fac- 
tion in  Virginia.  Through  Toucey's  overtures  the  Hunter  fac- 
tion, the  rivals  of  Wise  in  Virginia,  became  closely  identified  with 
the  Administration  until  the  latter  part  of  i860.  Floyd  and  Black 
had  a  disagreement  over  money  due  to  a  contractor  named  De- 
Groot.  Floyd  claimed  more  money  was  due  DeGroot  than  Black 
said  he  was  entitled.  After  reading  over  the  evidence,  it  is  hard 
to  see  that  Floyd  was  not  the  more  correct.  A  large  sum  of 
money,  however,  was  involved,  and  when  Floyd,  in  spite  of  an 
opinion  by  Black,  tried  to  pay  the  claim,  Buchanan,  who  knew 
Floyd  was  a  poor  book-keeper,  vigorously  sustained  the  Attorney- 
General's  opinion. 

In  the  main,  due  to  Buchanan's  tact  in  selecting  his  men,  they 
were  most  congenial  and  harmonious  until  they  came  to  the  part- 
ing of  the  ways  in  i860.  The  rest  of  the  story  appears  below. 
The  letters  here  enclosed  show  the  very  strong  friendly  ties  ex- 
isting between  the  Cabinet  and  their  chief. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Douglas  faction  did  not  have  any 
intimate  friends  in  the  cabinet.  Slidell  had  warned  Buchanan 
not  to  put  any  Douglas  man  among  his  ministers.  Bright  of 
Indiana  had  returned  to  the  Senate  and  thus  relieved  the  Presi- 
dent of  finding  a  place  for  him.  Cass,  as  indicated  above,  was 
finally  chosen  as  a  compromise. 

Breckenridge,  who  had  been  nominated  Vice-President  by  the 
Cincinnati  Convention  as  a  compliment  to  the  Douglas  supporters, 
was  not  over  popular  with  the  President  until  i860.  Slidell  and 
Douglas  locked  horns  at  the  very  outset  of  the  term.  In  reply  to 
a  letter  of  a  friend  who  feared  that  the  cabinet  would  soon  break 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     37 

up,  Buchanan  made  it  evident  that  he  did  not  intend  to  follow 
the  dictates  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois.  Concerning  the  cabinet 
and  Douglas  he  said, 

"  It  was  framed  with  great  care  and  of  the  four  from  the  South 
there  are  three,  open,  avowed  and  able  states  Rights  Democrats. 
I  trust  in  Heaven  I  may  be  President  myself  and  think  I  shall  be. 
I  like  Douglas  very  much.  He  shall  have  no  cause  to  oppose  my 
administration,  but  if  he  should,  whilst  I  shall  deeply  regret  it,  I 
must  bear  it  with  a  patient  and  resolute  spirit."  x 

The  Kansas  affair  served  as  a  casus  belli  which  Douglas  was 
ready  to  wage  for  the  control  of  the  party. 

The  following  extracts  are  indicative  of  the  fact  that  Bu- 
chanan's Administration  was  a  very  personal  one.  Few  more 
laborious  men  have  ever  occupied  the  White  House. 

"  Colonel  Phillips  has  been  removed.  Dr.  Brodheal  will  go  in 
a  few  days.  It  is  said  that  every  member  of  the  Cabinet  opposes 
Cutt's  (Douglas's  father-in-law)  appointment;  but  the  President 
is  determined.  Governor  Floyd  told  Dr.  Blake,  in  speaking  of 
Cutts,  that  Mr.  Buchanan  was  different  from  General  Jackson ; 
that  General  Jackson  could  be  coaxed  from  his  purposes,  but  that 
Mr.  Buchanan  could  neither  be  coaxed  nor  driven."  (W.  C. 
Dunnington  to  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  Oct.  6,  1857,  A-  H-  A->  Vol.  II, 
P.  235.) 

"  It  is  said  that  the  Cabinet  are  all  afraid  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
and  that  he  overhauled  the  Secretary  of  War  the  other  day  rela- 
tive to  the  selling  of  certain  bonds  owned  by  the  United  States. 
I  do  not  believe  the  Cabinet  will  hold  together  until  the  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress."     (Ibid.,  p.  224.) 

" .  .  .  No  man  ever  filled  the  Presidential  office  who  knew 
better  than  he  did  how  to  enforce  the  respect  due  to  his  position 
and  I  know  of  no  one  more  tenacious  of  his  opinions  when  his 
judgment  was  fixed.  He  was  absolute  master  in  his  own  house." 
(Black  on  Buchanan,  in  the  Philadelphia  Press,  Sept.  10,  1883.) 

"  Never  has  there  been  in  the  White  House  a  more  laborious 
occupant;  he  reposes  no  confidence  even  in  his  Cabinet  officers, 
but  insists  on  first  reading  every  paper  which  they  put  before 
him  for  signature.  He  seldom  leaves  the  house  for  exercise  or 
air,  but  spends  twelve  or  sixteen  hours  daily  in  discharging  drudg- 
eries which  might  be  better  left  to  the  care  of  subordinates  in  the 
departments.  .  .  .   (Clipping  from  the  N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.,  1859.) 

"  It  is  evident  to  the  Cabinet  that  Mr.  Buchanan  intends  to  be 

1  Sears,  "  Buchanan  and  Slidell,"  A.  H.  A.,  July,   1922.     Mr.  Sears  has 
incorporated  the  chapter  in  his  more  recent  biography  "  John  Slidell,"  Dur- 
ham, N.  C,  1926. 
4 


38  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

the  President  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  He  is  self-determined, 
not  consultive,  with  the  cabinet  and,  in  the  deliberation,  acts  as  if 
the  whole  government  rested  its  responsibilities  alone  on  him. 
..."   (New  York  Herald,  March  16,  1857.) 

"  His  Cabinet  called  him  '  The  Squire  '  behind  his  back  and 
they  stood  in  much  the  same  awe  of  him  as  boys  do  of  a  school- 
master." (Mary  Black  Clayton,  "Reminiscences  of  Jeremiah 
Sullivan  Black,"  St.  Louis,  1887,  p.  106.) 

The  following  letters  show  the  conditions  in  Kansas  at  the  time 
of  the  Lecompton  agitation.  The  writer,  as  has  been  noticed, 
was  a  Northern  man,  a  Pennsylvania  Democrat  of  Somerset 
County.  He  had  once  been  a  friend  of  Walker,  but  when  the 
latter  heard  he  was  coming  he  tried  to  get  another  appointed. 
He  was  too  honest  to  be  used  as  a  tool  by  the  Governor.  He  was 
also  well  known  to  Black  and  evidently  an  intimate  friend.  His 
reports  are  a  valuable  refutation  of  traditional  histories  on  the 
subject. 

Fort  Scott,  K.  T., 
December  24th,  1857 
Dear  Judge  : 

I  have  just  returned  from  Supreme  Court.  When  at  Lecomp- 
ton, I  was  called  from  my  bench  duties  by  a  note,  from  acting 
Governor  Stanton,  requesting  me  to  go  to  him,  immediately;  I 
did  so ;  I  found  him  busy  preparing  a  requisition  on  Gen  Harney 
for  troops,  to  be  immediately  sent  to  Fort  Scott,  to  aid  the  Officers 
of  the  law  in  preserving  the  peace,  and  executing  legal  process,  to 
arrest  an  armed  body  (of  men) — (Ms.  torn)  who  had  assembled 
to  attach  that  place,  and  were  threatning  to  burn  it;  and,  who 
had  gone  along  the  Osage  river,  with  Sharps  rifles  and  revolvers, 
driving  men,  women  and  children  from  their  homes ;  taking,  ap- 
propriating their  property  to  their  own  use,  and  running  them 
out  of  the  Territory.  He  requested  me  to  meet  the  troops  on  the 
way,  and  accompany  them  to  Fort  Scott,  in  order  that  I  might 
take  control  of  the  matter,  Officially — This,  I,  of  course,  did — I 
rode  all  night,  and  met  the  troops  (2  companies  of  cavalry)  at 
"  Little  Santa  Fee,"  by  forced  march,  night  and  day,  merely  stop- 
ping to  feed  etc,  we  made  the  distance  (140  miles)  in  two  days 
and  one  half — when  we  reached  our  destination  we  found  that 
about  100  men,  armed  and  equipped,  under  command  of  One 
Montgomery (  who  was  a  member  of  the  Topeka  convention) 
well  fortified  on  the  Osago  river,  12  miles  from  Fort  Scott,  they 
having  converted  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Southwood,  whom  they  had 
robbed  and  drawn  from  his  home.  To  this  fort  reenforcements 
of  men,  from  the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the  Territory, 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     39 

have  been  constantly  coming — And,  we  have  learned,  reliably, 
that  since  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature,  James  H.  Lane  is, 
now,  at  Sugar  mound  near  Sugar  Creek,  in  Linn  County,  some 
forty  miles  distant,  on  his  way  with  175  men!  all  armed  to  assist 
the  men  under  Montgomery.  The  U.  S.  troops  are  here,  to  act 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  law — Last  night,  scouts  from  the  as- 
sailing party  were  seen  passing  around  the  Fort  in  hailing  dis- 
tance of  the  Sentinels — Thus,  you  see  we  are,  literally,  besieged 
by  an  armed  banditti  of  the  Lane  party — All  of  whom  are  strang- 
ers to  the  inhabitants  of  this  Southern  section  of  the  Territory, 
except  a  very  few  who  are  sympathisers  with  Lane — Now,  as  the 
Black  Republican  papers  are  filled  with  absolute  falsehoods  in 
relation  to  this  "war"  (as  they  term  it),  I  will  give  you  a  true 
statement  of  the  whole  matter,  on  which,  just  at  this  crisis,  they 
have  seized  and  grossly  misrepresented,  as  the  excuse  for  this 
"  warT  In  September  last  One  Curry,  a  very  boisterour  free 
States  man,  or  rather  disciple  of  Lane  &  Co,  met  a  Mr.  Letterman 
in  the  road,  as  he  was  riding  on  his  way  home.  Mr.  Curry,  in  a 
rude  manner,  required  of  Letterman  to  tell  him  whether  he  was 
a  "  free  state,  or  a  pro-slavery  man."  This  Letterman  refused 
to  do,  when  Curry  shot  him  in  the  head  with  a  revolver,  the  ball 
passing  in,  below  the  cheek  bone,  and  out  at  the  back  part  of  his 
head.  As  Curry  was  arrested  by  due  process  of  law,  and  the  man 
did  not  die,  Curry  was  let  out  on  bail,  by  a  justice  of  the  peace. 
The  affair,  thus  rested  until  the  October  term  of  the  Court  here ; 
when  Curry  was  indicted  by  the  Grand  Jury.  He  then  fled  from 
these  parts,  his  recognizance  having  been,  in  due  course  of  law, 
forfeited,  suit  was  brought  thereon.  An  attachment  was  laid 
upon  his  property,  consisting  of  oxen,  cows  etc.  as  there  will  be 
no  term  of  the  court  until  May  next,  when  this  suit  is  triable ;  and 
as,  the  cattle  would  cost  more  for  their  keeping  than  their  worth, 
they  were  sold,  in  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  the  statutes 
of  our  Territory.  But  before  the  sale,  a  body  of  men  of  this 
party,  in  the  Night  time,  stole  the  cattle  from  the  place  where 
they  were  kept.  The  Marshall,  however,  went  in  pursuit  of  them 
and  recovered  them.  This  is  the  basis  of  the  story  which  is 
blown  abroad  by  the  abolition  papers,  and  their  allies,  turning  the 
matter  to  account  by  charging  that  "  those  cattle,  being  the  prop- 
erty of  free  State  men, -were  in  a  lawless  manner  taken  by  300 
Missourians  etc."  Not  a  word  of  truth  is  there  in  these  News- 
paper tales.  They  are  made,  by  letter  writing  emissaries  for  the 
purpose  of  Agitation  in  the  East. 

The  next  item,  used  falsely,  by  these  agitators  to  excite  sym- 
pathy in  the  States,  and  raise  forces  in  this  Territory,  is,  in  truth, 
as  follows : 


40  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

A  company  of  some  twenty-five  men,  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Lawrence,  appeared  on  the  Osage  river,  near  the  scene  of  the 
above  related  affair.  They  were  all  armed  with  Sharps  rifles  and 
revolvers ;  and  by  force  drove  the  Rev.  Mr.  Southwood,  an  old 
man  palsied  by  the  wear  of  75  years,  and  family,  from  his  home 
and  claim,  took  and  used  his  property,  and  by  threats,  compelled 
him  to  leave  the  Territory.  They  remained  boldly,  and  in  de- 
fiance of  law  on  the  Osage  at  this  house ;  in  the  mean  time,  taking 
what  they  needed  from  the  settlers.  Soon  after  their  arrival  a 
store,  or  depot,  of  ready  made  clothing  and  supplies,  was  estab- 
lished by  an  agent  of  some  Eastern  Aid  Society,  and  they  were 
furnished  by  this  agent  with  supplies  for  the  winter.  When  the 
court  commenced  its  session,  in  October,  complaint  was  made  in 
due  form,  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  outrage  perpetrated  by  these 
men,  (upon)  the  Rev.  Mr.  Southwood.  An  indictment  was 
found  and  presented  against  twelve  of  them  (whose  names  were 
ascertained),  process  issued,  and  six  of  them  were  arrested  and 
brought  into  Court.  Part  of  them  gave  bail,  and  the  others  being 
under  guard  (there  being  no  prison  here)  in  a  short  time,  made 
their  escape.  The  leader  of  the  banditti,  now  in  arms  against 
this  place,  One  Bayne,  is  of  the  number,  who  gave  bail,  as  above 
stated.  This  man  has,  from  their  Fort,  demanded  boldly,  that 
the  records  and  papers  of  their  prosecution  be  delivered  to  him, 
or  the  town  shall  be  burnt  to  ashes.  This  place  being  the  seat  of 
Justice  for  the  3d  District,  is  therefore  the  object  of  their  venge- 
ance, The(y)  repudiate  all  law. 

In  continuance  of  these  outrages,  about  three  weeks  since,  a 
party  of  these  men,  armed,  went  to  the  houses  of  Mr.  Masson, 
Mr.  Gously  and  Mr.  Southwood  Jr.  (they  being  witness  on  part 
of  the  Territory  against  these  bandits)  and  took  them  by  force 
blindfolded  them.  Among  the  captives  were  two  daughters  of 
Mr.  Southwood,  one  13  years  of  age,  the  other  16.  All  the  cap- 
tives were  taken  to  their  fort  on  Osage,  and  retained  three  days 
and  nights ;  during  which  time  these  young  girls  were  forced  to 
cook  for  these  ruffians.  Trial  of  Mr.  Southwood  was  had,  one 
of  these  banditti  acting  as  Judge,  and  the  judgment  of  the  court 
was  that  Mr.  Southwood,  should  sign  a  certificate  of  sale  for 
value  received  to  them,  of  his  horse,  300  bushels  of  corn  and 
other  property,  consisting  of  household  affairs,  winter's  provisions 
etc.  and  also  a  deed  of  conveyance  of  his  claim,  or  otherwise  be 
hanged.  The  result  was,  that  he  signed  these  papers,  and  was 
released  with  threats  against  his  life  if  he  sought  redress  by  law. 
Gousley  and  Wasson  received  similar  treatment. 

For  these  outrages,  prosecutions  were  instituted.  Writs  were 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  Marshall  for  the  arrest  of  some  of 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     41 

these  men  who  were  recognized  and  could  be  identified.  The 
Marshall  proceeded  to  the  Osage  to  arrest  them.  He  found  them 
in  a  well  fortified  house ;  with  regular  barricades,  port  holes  etc. 
As  he  approached  the  fort  forty  men  in  file  issued  from  it  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Montgomery  and  demanded  why  he  was 
there?  Having  informed  them  that  he  was  there  as  Marshall 
with  writs  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrests  of  some  of  their 
number;  he  was  told  to  leave,  that  he  could  make  no  arrests 
there.  As  he  was  alone,  and  they  were  all  armed  with  Sharps 
rifles  etc.  he  retired.  Next  day  he  returned  to  the  fort  and 
found  them  still  there.  As  soon  as  the  Marshall  with  the  posse 
approached  near  to  the  fort,  a  voley  was  fired  at  them  by  these 
brigands,  from  it,  and  repeated  some  twenty  times  or  more,  the 
balls  passing  around  them  thickly.  A  few  of  the  posse  then  re- 
turned their  fire,  several  times.  One  of  the  Marshalls  posse  was 
shot  in  the  arm,  and  his  horse  mortally  wounded.  The  Marshall 
finding  too  strongly  fortified  again  returned  to  Fort  Scott.  These 
outlaws  boldly  informed  the  Marshall  that  there  was  no  law  in 
Kansas,  and  that  they  were  acting  under  orders  from  James  H. 
Lane. 

They  defiantly  remained  there,  to  the  terror  of  the  settlers, 
until  last  Sunday  night,  when  the  Cavalry  under  command  of 
Captain  Sturgis  arrived.  They  then  fled  from  their  fort  to 
Sugar  Mound,  about  12  miles  distant.  On  yesterday,  one  hun- 
dred armed  men  returned  to  the  same  fort,  and  are  there,  as  I 
am  authentically  informed  a  awaiting  the  advent  of  the  Gen'l 
James  H.  Lane,  who  is  advancing  with  his  army  of  five  hundred 
armed  men. 

This  last  fact  I  have  just  learned  by  a  letter  handed  to  me 
from  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  from  a  messenger  who  has  seen  Lane 
and  his  encampment.  Lane  has  a  wagon  load  of  arms  with  him 
to  supply  those  he  can  enlist  on  the  way.  So  here  we  are  with  a 
few  peacable  citizens  who  have  done  nothing  in  violation  of  law, 
under  the  protection  of  85  Cavalry,  awaiting  an  attack  from  these 
outlaws.  Now,  I  suppose  you  will  say,  that  this  is  law  and  war 
in  a  mixed  dose.  I  have  held  the  troops  in  position  to  act  as  a 
posse  comitatus  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  laws  in  case  of  re- 
sistance with  formidable  force.  Our  citizens  are  of  course  much 
excited.  Now,  dear  Sir,  the  object  of  all  this  movement  by  Lane, 
who  represents  the  Black  Republicans  in  agitation  here  is  to  get 
up  an  embrio  civil  war  in  Kansas  to  prevent  congress  from  ac- 
cepting the  Lecompton  Constitution.  But  it  is  pitiable  to  behold 
poor  settlers,  at  this  inclement  season  of  the  year,  despoiled  of 
their  goods,  flying  from  their  homes  in  terror  and  destitution. 


42  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

And  all  this,  upheld  and  urged  on  by  persons  professing  to  be 
Christians  who  are  living  in  the  east  in  ease  and  luxury. 

I  think  Lane  has  done  quite  enough  in  rebellion  to  justify 
prompt  and  energetic  proceedings  against  him.  His  instructions 
are  sent  from  the  east  and  he  carries  them  into  execution  by  using 
a  homeless  and  vagrant  rabble  who  are  here,  kept  fed,  and  clothed 
by  aid  Societies  which  are  busy  in  this  business  in  the  East,  whose 
leading  members  appeal,  falsely,  to  the  sympathy  and  fanaticism 
of  weak  men  and  women. 

I  can  assure  you  that  I  have,  with  a  determination  to  be  im- 
partial, viewed  matters  here,;  the  result  with  me  is,  that  not  one 
instance  have  I  found,  in  which  any  man  of  any  other  party  has 
acted  in  a  manner,  regardless  of  law,  but  those  of  the  Lane  and 
company  black  Republican  party.  I  am  here  to  preserve  the 
peace  and  enforce  the  law  without  regard  of  men  or  parties. 
Nearly  twenty  years  of  experience  as  judge,  I  think,  has  so  trained 
me  in  the  line  of  my  duty,  as  to  enable  me  to  think,  and  act  im- 
partially. Besides  I  have  no  affection  in  favor  of  Slavery,  I  as- 
sure you.  With  all  this,  I  must  say  that,  since  I  have  been  here, 
no  pro-slavery  man  has  been  guilty  of  violating  the  law,  that  I 
know  of. 

If  those  who  are  active  in  this  strife  to  make  Kansas  a  free 
State,  will  send  emissaries  from  the  East,  to  this  Territory,  to 
carry  out  their  views,  why  in  the  name  of  Heaven  (as  they  pro- 
fess to  act  in  that  name)  do  they  not  send  men  of  honorable  and 
good  character,  and  not  the  worst  of  vagrants.  But  I  need  not 
enlarge;  the  world  will  in  due  time  wonder  that  ever  such  a  state 
of  things  existed,  in  this,  our  day,  and  land. 

These  facts,  which  I  have  related,  are  strictly  true,  and  out  of 
them  has  been  raised  all  this  present,  seemingly,  deadly  strife. 

I  shall  stand  at  my  post,  and  do  my  duty,  leaving  the  conse- 
quences in  the  hands  of  him  who  holds,  in  his  hand,  the  destiny 
of  all  men.  I  write  this  in  the  midst  of  alarm  and  confusion, 
incident  to  a  virtual  siege.  I  have  not  time  to  look  over  what  I 
have  written  so  as  to  correct  it  as  to  manner  and  form.  The 
substance  is  correct.  Therefore  if  you  see  fit  you  may  let  the 
President  see  it. 

I  send  it  to  Leavenworth  to  be  mailed,  as  I  am  informed  there 
is  no  safe  communication  by  mail  here. 

Your  old  friend  truly 
J  Williams 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     43 

We  certify  that  the  statement  set  forth  in  the  above  communi- 
cation of  Judge  Williams  may  be  relied  on  as  substantially  true. 
Epapheo.  Rankin  George  A.  Crawford 

Geo.  W.  Clarke 
Dan.Al  F  Greenwood 
Sam.Al  A.  Williams  elk 
(Endorsed)  64  US  Dst  Court 

Dec.  24  1857 
Judge  Williams 
Kansas  Affairs. 

Kansas  Fort  Scott,  March  3rd  1858. 
To  James  Buchanan,  President  of  the  United  States 

Sir:  To  describe  and  properly  represent  to  you  the  distracted 
condition  of  this  Southern  section  of  our  Territory  would  be  im- 
possible, and  done,  the  representations  could,  perhaps,  be  too  much 
for  the  credulity  of  any  one  whose  standpoint  is  within  the  limits 
of  civilization  and  law.  Washington  City  on  the  day  of  the 
"  Plug  Ugly  "  riot  could  be  a  poor  similitude  of  the  scene  day. 
and  night  here.  For  four  months  past  and  particularly  since 
General  Lane  has  assumed  military  authority  as  he  alleges  by  vir- 
tue of  appointment  of  the  legislature  at  the  special  session  there- 
of, companies  of  armed  men  with  Sharp  rifles,  just  new  from  the 
factories  and  revolvers,  and  now  with  cannon,  have  established 
in  forts  in  this  region.  They  are  commanded  by  the  most  des- 
perate of  men,  possessing  qualifications,  peculiarly  adapted  to  the 
work  assigned  them.  Their  men  are  not  citizens  of  the  territory, 
with  the  exception  of  a  very  few.  The  commanding  officers  of 
these  companies  report  regularly  to  Lane,  as  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  Militia  of  Kansas  Territory.  They  also  make  requisitions 
for  men  and  munitions  of  war  on  at  the  same  time  falsley  rep- 
resenting that  "  The  Missourians  "  are  in  the  Territory,  driving 
here  from  all  the  Free  State  settlers,  when  I  know  and  aver  that 
there  have  not  been  any  Missourians,  or  any  persons  whatsoever 
in  all  this  region  of  Kansas,  since  I  have  been  here.  (June  last), 
interfering  in  the  least,  with  anyone  except  themselves.  Thus  do 
they  fabricate  their  excuse,  violating  truth,  for  the  perpetuating 
of  the  most  flagrant  outrages. 

This  has  been  the  Black  Republican  programme  of  operation, 
since  I  have  been  here.  Whilst  I  take  special  care  to  stand  aloof 
from  all  agitation  by  either  party,  in  the  meantime  I  observe  most 
carefully  the  current  of  their  doings.  Every  fillibustering  foray 
made  on  this  region  of  the  Territory  has  been  preceeded  by  pub- 
lishing in  the  Black  Republican  papers  of  Lawrence,  etc.  an  ac- 


44  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

count  of  attacks,  outrages,  etc.  committed  by  Missourians  and 
pro-slavery  men  on  Osage  Valley,  especially  free  state  settlers, 
when  I  most  positively  declare  these  accounts  are  entirely  untrue. 
None  such  have  occurred  since  I  have  been  here,  as  every  citizen 
knows.  As  this  place  is  point  at  which  court  is  holden  and  from 
which  process  has  been  of  course  issued,  it  has  become  the  special 
object  of  vengence  to  attack  by  these  men.  For  four  months  the 
citizens  have  been  obliged  to  perform  military  duty,  guarding  the 
town  day  and  night.  During  all  this  time  I  have  had  scarcely 
one  nights  sleep.  For  a  week  and  more,  while  they  were  around 
about  the  town  I  was  not  in  bed,  or  undressed.  I  kept  on  the 
alert  so  that  I  might  preserve  order  among  our  own  citizens,  as 
they  are  of  all  political  parties,  as  well  as  to  prevent  collision  and 
bloodshed  between  them  and  the  invaders.  This  so  far,  thank 
heaven,  aided  by  a  few  peaceable  and  influential  citizens,  I  have 
several  times  succeeded  in  doing. 

Finding  from  the  most  authentic  sources,  about  two  weeks 
since,  that  another  bonifide  Lane  causa  belli  had  been  promulgated 
in  the  "  Prarie  City  Champion  "  a  Black  Republican  newspaper, 
published  in  that  town,  laid  out  by  a  company  in  which  James  H. 
Lane  is  president,  that  in  addition  to  the  companies  under  Bayne 
and  Montgomery,  already  stationed  for  months  past,  12  miles 
distant  at  Fort  Bayne,  on  the  Osage  river,  a  strong  re-enforce- 
ment of  Lanes  men  with  seven  cannon  had  started  from  Lawrence 
with  the  especial  purpose  of  sacking  and  burning  Fort  Scott,  and 
taking  possession  of  the  Osage  country,  I  called  on  acting  Gov- 
ernor General  Denver  for  United  States  troops,  to  aid  me  in 
keeping  the  peace  and  in  execution  of  the  laws.  The  Governor, 
aware  of  the  prospect  of  this,  promptly  responded  by  making  a 
requisition  on  the  commanding  officer  at  Fort  Leavenworth  for 
two  companies  of  cavalry.  The  troops  arrived  on  Friday  last 
only  in  the  nick  of  time,  as  the  following  facts  will  show :  On 
Sunday  morning  before  break  of  day,  a  body  of  men  under  com- 
mand of  Montgomery  attacked  the  house  of  Mr.  James  Ferris  an 
aged  man  and  peaceful  citizen  of  Osage  14  miles  from  this  town, 
seized  him,  tied  him,  robbed  him  of  his  household  goods,  his  three 
horses,  his  and  his  families'  clothing,  indeed  all  he  had,  except  his 
money.  Of  this,  it  was  known  that  he  had  considerable,  but  while 
they  were  breaking  into  the  house,  his  son  in  law  escaped  by  a 
back  way  taking  the  money  with  him,  it  being  dark  when  he 
escaped.  His  daughters,  young  women,  after  some  abuse  were 
led  off  by  one  of  the  company  with  a  pretense  of  getting  water  to 
cook  them  breakfast  from  the  spring  which  is  distant  some  100 
yards  from  the  house,  he  pitying,  them,  so  soon  as  the  spring  was 
reached  made  them  drop  their  buckets  and  escape  for  their  lives 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     45 

by  running,  which  they  did.  After  abusing  the  old  man  and 
robbing  his  house,  they  left  pursuing  with  their  wagons  to  others 
who  were  served  in  the  same  way.  They  have  stolen  some  twelve 
or  fifteen  horses  besides  all  the  property  on  which  they  could  lay 
their  hands.  They  also  broke  into  the  house  of  Mr.  Fermaugh 
in  Osage  and  shot  him  through  the  shoulder  with  a  Sharps  rifle. 
When  asked  why  they  did  such  things  their  reply  was  that  "  hav- 
ing learned  that  the  U.  S.  Troops  were  at  Fort  Scott,  and  they 
were  prevented  from  robbing  and  burning  them,  they  were  deter- 
mined to  get  something  for  coming  so  far,  with  so  much  trouble 
and  they  would  therefore  take  vengeance  on  the  goods  and  prop- 
erty of  the  pro-slavery  "  and  drive  them  out  of  the  country. 

Of  course  the  country  became  aroused,  with  alarm,  at  their 
doings.  Soon  persons  whose  property  had  been  taken,  appeared 
in  this  place,  to  seek  the  protection  and  redress  of  law.  Infor- 
mations were  made  on  oath  in  accordance  with  laws;  the  deputy 
Marshal,  with  his  writs  finding  that  he  would  be  restrained  by 
force,  one  company  of  cavalry  under  command  of  Capt.  Anderson 
accompanied  him  as  a  posse  to  the  scene  of  their  outrages.  When 
the  Marshall  and  the  cavalry  arrived  it  was  found  that  they  had 
fled,  taking  the  booty  in  wagons  with  them.  The  officers  and 
troops  pursued  them  with  all  possible  speed  and  energy.  After 
scouring  the  prairies  and  groves  for  two  days,  they  returned  to 
their  place  last  night  with  some  of  their  principle  men  as  prison- 
ers. These  marauders  are  in  force  to  about  the  number  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred.  Besides  small  arms  they 
have  with  them  two  or  three  cannons  obtained  at  Lawrence  and 
Ossawattamie.  In  the  country  among  the  farmers,  they  depre- 
date by  robbing,  horsestealing  etc.  in  small  squads ;  and  come  on 
this  place  in  full  force.  They  start  from  the  more  northern  part 
of  the  Territory  on  foot  but  by  the  time  they  reach  their  rendez- 
vous, Fort  Bayne  on  Osage,  most  of  them  are  mounted.  This 
has  been  the  political  rebellion,  which  has  been  kept  up  during 
the  last  fall  and  winter.  These  are  patriotic  freemen  who  refuse 
to  vote,  and  will  not  submit  to  have  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
forced  upon  them. 

Just  now,  as  I  have  been  writing  this,  two  settlers,  have  called 
on  me,  informing  me  that  last  night,  finding  that  the  Marshall 
and  the  troops  were  returned  to  Fort  Scott,  these  outlaws  ap- 
peared, in  number  about  thirty  in  the  neighborhood,  pillaging, 
stealing  horses,  and  warning  others  to  leave  the  state  in  24  hours, 
or  they  would  lynch  them  and  their  families.  Thus  do  they  flee 
to  their  hiding  places,  when  pursued  by  the  troops,  being  warned 
by  their  scouts,  and  gather  again  as  soon  as  the  pursuit  is  over. 
The  settlers  are  departing  from  this  region  of  the  Territory  daily, 


46  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

deeming  it  the  only  way  of  saving  their  lives  and  property.  It  is 
about  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  to  be  done,  on  the  Osage,  for 
a  settler  to  examine  the  outer  side  of  his  door,  particularly  if  he 
be  a  former  inhabitant  of  a  slave-holding  state ;  or,  a  sound 
democrat,  of  the  national  union  stamp  whose  metal  is  of  the 
genuine  ring,  to  see  whether,  during  the  night  pas  he  has  received 
"  notice  to  quit."  If  he  find  such  notice  on  his  door  "  fight  or 
go  "  is  his  lot.  One  of  these  Osago  visiting  cards  was  brought  to 
me,  last  night,  by  Captains  Anderson  as  a  speciman  of  Osago 
fashion." 

I  give  you  a  copy  of  it  "  literatim  et  verbatim  " — I  give  the 
quotation  reversed  as  I  consider  the  Osago  fashions  reverse  the 
order  of  things  elsewhere.     Here  it  is : 

"  Leave  this  claim  in  24  hours." 
"  John  Brown  Capt." 

The  handwriting  of  this  instrument  is  good  betokening  an 
education  in  any  place  but  squatterdom.  The  writer  uses  few 
words,  and  knows  something  of  punctuation.  I  have  no  idea  that 
•the  name,  subscribed  is  his  true  one.  He,  no  doubt,  meant  to 
give  a  hint  that  the  ejectment  would  be  "  done  up  Brown."  They 
are  apt  in  the  use  of  fire.  Of  this  the  following  will  suffice  as  an 
instance  which  is  true,  as  I  am  informed  by  Capt.  Anderson. 

Several  of  these  outlaws  came  out  of  their  hiding  places  after 
the  Marshall  and  cavalry  had  passed  through  the  neighborhood, 
and  finding  two  boys,  sons,  one  of  Mr.  Spratt,  and  the  other  of 
Mr.  Ferris,  they  inquired  of  the  boys  "  where  the  dragoons  had 
gone " ;  the  boys  replied  they  did  not  know,  whereupon  these 
ruffans,  took  bundles  of  prairie  grass  and  setting  fire  to  it,  they 
burned  the  children's  faces  until  blistered  to  force  them  to  tell 
what  the  poor  things  did  not  know.  When  I  first  heard  of  this 
I  could  not  believe  it ;  but  the  Marshall  and  Captain  Anderson 
saw  one  of  children  and  said  that  it  was  true.  Thus  you  see  the 
Black  Republicans  can  boast  of  the  fact  that  the  Sepoys  are 
among  us. 

Every  day  furnishes  its  catalogue  of  outrages.  Extreme  ex- 
citement prevails  all  over  the  country.  I  shall  stand  by  my  post, 
let  the  consequences  be  what  they  may,  and  do  my  duty.  It  re- 
quires, I  assure  you,  sir,  a  man's  best  energies  and  efforts  to  en- 
able him  to  effect  anything  officially  effective  amid  such  rebellion 
and  anarchy.  I  assure  you  the  aggression  and  violence  is  all  on 
one  side,  the  Black  Republicans. 

I  feel  constrained  you  of  these  things  as  a  duty, 

Your  obt.  servt,  etc, 
His  Excellency  J.  Williams, 

James  Buchanan, 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     47 

P.  S.  I  merely  add  that  just  as  I  had  signed  my  name  to  the 
letter  which  this  accompanies,  Mr.  Ferris,  the  father  of  one  of  the 
boys,  who  were  burned  by  these  fiends,  came  into  my  room,  in 
much  excitement.  He  informs  me  that  he  was  driven  from  his 
house  by  a  company  of  men.  Being  compelled  to  fly  to  save  his 
life,  his  family  were  left  there  yesterday  evening.  He  knows  not 
whether  they  are  dead  or  alive.  That  Mr.  Spratt  one  of  the  old- 
est settlers,  and  an  excellent  citizen  were  barracaded  in  his  house, 
with  a  few  friends,  unable  to  get  away,  alive,  determined  to  de- 
fend themselves  to  the  death. 

He  also  informs  me  that  his  son  was  held  over  the  fire  by  these 
men,  until  so  burnt,  about  the  ankles  as  well  as  the  face,  that  the 
flesh  is  burnt  to  the  bone.  Such  are  the  doings  of  abolition  sway 
by  force  of  arms,  in  this  part  of  Kansas.  I  fear  retaliation  that 
heretofore  I  have  succeeded  in  preventing,  will  be  forced  from 
the  friends  of  the  sufferers.  This  is  what  the  smooth  tongued 
politicians  in  the  East  and  Congress,  too,  have  desired.  They 
have  certainly  invited  woe,  and  bid  high  for  rebellion  against  law 
and  order  in  Kansas,  with  a  view  to  the  overthrow  of  constitu- 
tional and  union-loving  democracy.  If  Kansas  remains  in  the 
Territorial  condition,  and  is  not  permitted  under  the  constitution 
now  before  Congress,  we  may  look  for  an  end,  that  will  be  traced 
in  blood  from  this,  the  mere  beginning.  The  longer  this  question 
is  delayed,  the  more  will  this  unfortunate  territory  will  be  over- 
run by  hireling  bandits,  who  seize  upon  the  occasion  for  employ- 
ment in  their  vocation  of  murder.  Every  month  brings  with  its 
lapse  crowds  of  eastern  city  and  country,  "  short  boys,"  plug 
uglies,  and  the  like,  armed  afreash  with  sharps  rifles,  ready  for 
the  work  of  rebellion  and  anarchy.  These  are  the  "  emmigrated  " 
or  missionaries,  who  are  sent  by  those,  who  at  the  altar  of  the 
Church  and  State,  and  who  shout  as  fiercely  the  specious  cry  of 
"  Freedom  for  Kansas  "  "  oh  Tempera  Oh  Mores !  " 
But  I  must  conclude 

Yours  again,  most  sincerely, 

"  I  send  this,  enroute  Missouri  as  J.  W.  Williams 

anything  in  the  form  and  style  of 
government  documents  is  intercepted." 

There  is  a  second  letter  of  April  25th  (H.  S.  P.)  stating  that 
the  pro-slavery  men  were  being  forced  to  leave  Kansas,  2000  men 
were  in  sight  of  the  town ;  one  or  more  troops  had  been  killed ; 
the  Judge  invited  to  leave  the  town  on  pain  of  death  within  six 
days,  and  his  court  proceedings  broken  up  by  armed  men. 

Small  wonder  Buchanan  felt  little  sympathy  with  anti-slavery 
Kansas. 


48  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Letters  Pertaining  to  Walker's  Policies  in  Kansas 

The  first  letter  was  one  signed  by  Cass.  He  was  a  poor  pen- 
man and  the  body  of  his  letter  was  written  by  another.  Floyd 
had  some  trouble  with  his  ringers  with  the  result  that  his  letters 
were  usually  written  by  another  and  only  signed  by  him.  Cass 
said  Floyd  would  write  and  would  send  the  copy  of  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Governor  Walker.  "  Of  course,  no  new  measures 
would  be  taken  in  your  absence,  and  these  letters,  therefore,  are 
strictly  confined  to  a  renewal  of  the  instructions  which  had  been 
previously  given  by  your  direction.  As  the  letter  was  followed 
by  a  telegraphic  message,  it  was  thought  necessary  that  some  im- 
mediate attention  should  be  given  to  it.  We  do  not  like  Gov. 
Walker's  letter  and  I  am  satisfied  that  this  will  be  your  opinion. 
I  can  not  believe  that  he  thinks  there  is  a  real  and  pressing  neces- 
sity for  the  amount  of  force  which  he  requests  unless  he  means  to 
attempt  to  disperse  the  peaceable  assemblages  of  the  people  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  If  this  was  his  intention,  he  will  find  his 
error  as  soon  as  he  receives  your  last  instructions.  We  all  fear 
that  Gov.  Walker  is  endeavoring  to  make  a  record  for  the  future, 
but  while  we  hope  otherwise,  we  are  satisfied  that  in  any  event 
your  record  will  be  found  fully  satisfactory.  The  plan,  which 
you  have  adopted,  is  the  only  true  plan.  It  is  to  support  the  con- 
stitution and  the  laws,  and  to  take  all  necessary  measures  for  this 
purpose.  We  all  desire  sincerely  that  this  matter  should  give  you 
no  uneasiness,  but  that  you  should  remain  at  Bedford  and  renew 
your  health  and  strength  for  your  future  labors.  I  enclose  a  very 
satisfactory  letter  from  Judge  McLean,  by  which  you  will  see 
how  necessary  your  last  instructions  were." 

On  the  same  day  Floyd  wrote  to  his  chief  inclosing  a  draft  of 
a  letter  sent  to  Walker.     Excerpts  of  the  letter  are  as  follows : 

"  At  Fort  Ridgely  which  can  be  sent  to  Fort  Leavenworth  in 
three  weeks,  three  companies  of  Sumner's  regiment  will  be  in 
sixty  days  upon  the  borders  of  the  territory,  amounting  to  three 
hundred  men,  and  for  greater  precaution,  another  company  of 
flying  artillery  can  be  sent  immediately  from  Fort  McHenry. 

"  In  my  Judgement,  a  thousand  men  are  fully  sufficient  to 
overawe  those  disposed  to  rebellion,  but  should  a  collision  with 
the  troop  take  place,  then  a  general  civil  war  between  the  oppos- 
ing parties  will  be  inevitable.  In  this  event,  a  thousand  regular 
troops  under  Harney  will  be  much  more  than  enough  to  turn  the 
scale  in  favor  of  law  and  order. 

"  And  I  am  afraid  that  this  movement  of  the  troops,  in  such 
imposing  numbers,  this  most  formidable  preparation  for  war,  is 
intended  rather  to  cover  his  Excellency's  retreat  from  his  Topeka 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     49 

speech,  than  to  prevent  the  town  of  Lawrence  from  adopting  a 
charter  for  its  government.  It  is  very  obvious  from  the  tone  of 
his  last  dispatch  that  the  denunciations  of  the  South  have  sur- 
prised, annoyed  and  alarmed  him,  and  that  he  intends  at  all 
hazard  to  regain  his  position  or  throw  the  blame  of  his  failure 
upon  someone  else,  either  the  administration,  or  the  War  Depart- 
ment. I  doubt,  now,  whether  the  investment  in  Gov.  Walker  is 
going  to  turn  out  very  profitable,  notwithstanding  we  all  thought, 
and  I  in  particular,  that  his  mission  to  Kansas  was  to  prove  a 
perfect  political  California  for  the  administration.  He  shall  have 
his  forces,  you  may  rely  upon  that,  and  then  nothing  is  left  for 
us  but  prayers  for  the  happy  deliverence  out  of  all  our  troubles ! 
I  trust,  with  promising  union  of  trusts  and  faith  which  so  happily 
blend  in  your  cabinet,  your  administration  may,  in  this  matter, 
experience  the  full  benefit  of  the  promise  given  to  '  the  fervent, 
effectual  prayer  of  the  righteous  man.' 

"  We  meet  in  Cabinet,  and  '  discuss  '  very  much,  but  I  believe 
we  all  feel  it  to  be  a  sort  of  game  of  Solitaire,  the  play  of  Hamlet 
with  the  part  of  Hamlet  left  out.  But  certainly,  things  are  mov- 
ing on  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  no  grounds  of  solicitude  or  un- 
easiness whatever  on  your  part ;  and  we  all  feel  that  you  are  serv- 
ing the  State  best,  for  the  present,  in  laying  in  a  stock  of  robust 
health  for  the  winter  campaigne,  which  is  to  be  an  eventful  one. 

M  With  most  respectful  regards  to  Miss  Lane, 

"  I  am  very  sincerely,  your  friend 
John  B.  Floyd 

War  Department 
Washington,  July  31,  1857 
"  His  Excellency, 
"  Robert  J  Walker, 
"  Governor  of  Kansas, 

"  Dear  Sir: 

"  Your  dispatch  of  the  ...  of  this  month  was  received  yester- 
day at  the  State  Department  and  very  maturely  considered  in 
Cabinet.  Upon  the  subject  of  the  troop  which  you  think  neces- 
sary to  keep  the  peace  in  Kansas  I  deem  it  proper  to  make  the 
following  statement : 

"  You  have  with  you  now  eight  companies  of  the  Regiment  of 
2d  Dragoons  and  one  company  of  the  Sixth  Infantry.  Sherman's 
light  battery  has  been  ordered  to  Fort  Leavenworth  from  Fort 
Snelling,  and  also  the  companies  of  the  10th  Infantry.  This  will 
constitute  a  force  of  about  thirteen  companies,  thoroughly  equip- 
ped and  efficient.     In  addition  to  this  there  will  be  six  companies 


50  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

under  command  of  Lieut.  Col.  Johnston,  five  of  which  are  cav- 
alry, who  will  join  you  as  soon  as  operation  upon  the  boundary 
survey  shall  cease,  which  must  happen  in  sixty  or  seventy  days  at 
farthest.  And,  moreover,  the  Cheyenne  expedition  having  been 
ordered  to  be  broken  up,  two  companies  will  speedily  join  the 
forces  at  Leavenworth  under  Col.  Sumner,  constituting  in  all  a 
force  of  twenty-one  companies,  fourteen  of  which  will  be  cavalry 
and  one  company  of  light  artillery.  This,  you  perceive,  is  a  very 
powerful  force,  and  I  hope  will  prove  sufficient  for  all  purposes, 
but  if  the  exigencies  of  the  case  require  a  still  larger  force,  you 
may  rest  assured  all  the  force  necessary  for  a  due  enforcement 
of  the  law  shall  be  promptly  furnished. 

With  the  highest  regard,  I  am 
Very  truly  yours 

Secretary  of  War 

These  letters  show  conclusively  that  Walker,  and  not  the  Ad- 
ministration, was  the  one  that  wanted  troops  increased  in  the 
region. 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  Aug.  6th.  1857 
Dear  Sir  : 

Upon  receiving  your  letter  yesterday  with  its  enclosures,  Gen- 
eral Cass  invited  a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  for  10  o'clock  this 
morning,  when  they  were  all  present.  At  their  request  I  joined 
them,  and  took  with  me  the  previous  instructions  to  Governor 
Walker,  dated  respectively  dated  July  25  &  July  31st.  together 
with  your  letter  to  Gov.  Floyd  and  the  memoranda  which  accom- 
panied it.  These  papers  were  carefully  read  through  in  order 
ascertain  what  is  the  precise  position  of  the  Administration  upon 
the  record.  I  then  read  a  draft  of  a  letter  to  the  Governor,  which 
I  wrote  hastily  this  morning,  as  a  sort  of  a  nucleus  for  discussion, 
in  the  event  that  it  was  decided  to  write  any  letter  at  all.  A  copy 
of  this  draft  is  enclosed.  The  Cabinet  seemed  to  agree  that  no 
new  instructions  were  absolutely  necessary,  but  in  deference  to 
what  seemed  to  be  a  slight  preference  on  your  part,  they  inclined 
to  adopt  substantially  the  letter  which  I  had  drawn,  and  to  send 
it  on.  The  last  sentence,  however,  was  to  be  omitted,  and  there 
was  a  suggestion  of  Gov.  Cobb  whether  a  more  specific  request 
to  Governor  to  explain  what  use  he  intended  to  make  of  the 
required  troops,  might  not  be  desirable.  Pending  the  discussion 
on  that  point,  Gov.  Floyd  read  a  letter  rec'd  from  Gen'l  Harney, 
&  Mr.  Henry  sent  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pleasanton  which  was  also 
read.     Both   these   letters   are   to   be   sent   to  you   today.     They 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     51 

indicate  so  clearly  a  state  of  things  in  Kansas  which  is  quite  in- 
consistent with  Gov.  W's  military  ideas,  that  the  Cabinet  decided 
to  delay  any  further  instructions  until  you  were  heard  from  again. 
To  this  conclusion  they  came,  partly  from  a  belief  that  the  ex- 
isting instructions  are  deficient,  and  partly  from  an  idea,  that,  in 
the  changed  aspect  of  affairs,  you  might  prefer  to  write  the  Gov- 
ernor an  unofficial  letter.  The  Cabinet  all  agreed  that  there  is  no 
probability  of  a  collision  in  Kansas,  and  the  great  difficulty  is  how 
Governor  Walker  will  relieve  himself  from  a  position  which  may 
be  intensely  awkward.  They  request  me  to  write  to  you  in  their 
united  behalf,  that,  in  their  opinion,  there  is  no  necessity  for  you 
immediate  return,  and  to  express  their  hope,  therefore,  that  you 
will  remain  at  Bedford  as  long  as  you  desire  to  be  there,  or  at 
least  that  you  will  not  deprive  yourself  of  the  benefit  of  the 
Springs,  now  that  you  are  there,  with  the  idea  that  there  exists 
any  pressing  emergency  here  which  cannot  wait  your  return. 

The  news  from  Kentucky  today  is  highly  favorable.  Indeed 
notwithstanding  the  little  excitement  about  Kansas,  it  does  seem 
to  me  that  the  Administration  enjoys  to  a  remarkable  degree  the 
confidence  of  the  whole  community.  If  no  accident  occurs,  its 
success  can  hardly  fail  to  meet  your  highest  expectations. 

The  Cabinet  determined  today  to  close  the  Executive  Depart- 
ments tomorrow,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Dobbin,  the 
late  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

In  haste, 

Very  respectfully 
&  truly  yours, 

John  Appleton. 

Note  on  John  Calhoun  of  the  Lecompton  Convention:  This 
man  has  been  so  assailed  by  the  anti-slavery  group,  that  it  seems 
a  mere  act  of  decency  to  submit  the  following  concerning  his  atti- 
tude. .  .  .  The  true  attitude  of  John  Calhoun  (Covode,  p.  163), 
the  President  of  the  Lecompton  Convention,  has  been  a  subject 
of  much  doubt.  Walker  held  him  a  prevaricator.  The  Republi- 
cans in  i860  vainly  tried  to  prove  that  he  had  received  secret 
orders  from  the  Administration  to  prevent  a  referendum.  They 
failed  to  do  so.  Calhoun  was  evidently  trying  to  please  all  fac- 
tions to  secure  himself.  He  was  always  the  friend  of  Douglas 
(Covode,  p.  in).  In  attempting  to  get  Walker  to  accept  the 
work  of  the  Convention,  Calhoun  was  trying  to  do  something  ac- 
ceptable to  Douglas.  At  the  same  time  he  seems  to  have  been 
receiving  advice  from  some  pro-Slavery  group  in  Washington. 
Yet  he  was  shown  beyond  doubt,  to  have  spoken  and  worked 
ardently  up  to  the  minute  before  the  final  vote  was  taken,  for 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIft 

LIBRARY 


52  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

submission  of  the  entire  document  to  the  voters,  as  the  plan 
favored  by  the  Administration  (Covode,  p.  175).  The  issue 
hung  on  not  more  than  three  votes. 

During  the  struggle  the  Union  published  the  following  note 
from  the  St.  Louis  Ledger: 

"  The  abolition  papers  vindictively  abuse  Mr.  Calhoun  as  ultra- 
pro-slavery  in  his  principles.  The  value  of  all  these  tirades,  the 
St.  Louis  Democrat  and  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  their  co- 
laborers  in  the  vocation  of  falsehood  will  be  rightly  appreciated 
when  the  fact  becomes  known  that  Mr.  Calhoun  was  a  citizen  of 
Illinois  before  he  was  appointed  to  office  in  Kansas,  that  he  went 
into  the  Territory  a  Free  State  man  in  his  opinions ;  was  elected 
as  such  to  the  convention,  acted  as  such  in  it,  was  made  president 
as  such,  was  instructed  with  a  full  knowledge  of  his  opinions  with 
the  powers  which  these  presses  so  loudly  complain,  and  will  cer- 
tainly vote  to  exclude  slavery  from  Kansas.  ..."  (The  re- 
mainder of  the  article  was  a  tribute  to  his  character  and  an  appeal 
to  the  North  not  to  be  deceived  by  false  reports.) 

The  following  letter  from  an  editor,  a  son  of  Governor  Wise, 
was  shown  to  Thompson  and  received  the  notations  indicated. 
For  what  Thompson  said  to  Martin  see  Covode,  p.  315-317. 

Richmond,  Va. 
Dec.  17th.  1857. 
Sir: 

My  father  has  received  information  from  a  source  which  he  is 
not  at  liberty  to  divulge,  that  a  schedule  proposed  for  adoption 
by  the  Lecompton  Convention  was  prepared  *  under  the  eye  of 
Mr.  Secretary  Thompson,  and  was  forwarded  to  the  Convention 
in  Kansas,  through  his  confidential  clerk,  Mr.  Henry  L.  Martin; 
— also  that  this  fact  fl  has  been  made  known  to  some,  ultra  men 
of  the  Southern  delegation  in  Congress,  who  have  boasted  of  it, 
as  an  instance  of  concession  forced  from  the  Administration. 

The  Govr.  is  somewhat  disturbed  by  these  statements,  which 
have  reached  him  under  a  plausible  appearance,  and  earnestly  re- 
quests that  you  will  furnish  him  with  some  reliable  information 
concerning  the  matter. 

With  very  high  respect 
Yours  truly, 
*  This  is  utterly  false  A.  Jennings  Wise 

His  Excy. 

James  Buchanan  fl  This  is  equally  false 

President  of  the  United  States  J.  Thompson 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     53 

Note  on  Jacob  Thompson  as  Secretary  of  Interior:  "...  In 
1856,  Mr.  Thompson  supported  James  Buchanan  in  the  Presi- 
dential Convention.  After  the  election,  he  was  invited  to  take 
charge  of  the  Department  of  Interior  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet. 
This  he  accepted  and  entered  on  his  duties  March,  1857.  He 
found  the  Department  a  mere  aggregation  of  bureaus,  working 
entirely  without  concert,  and  the  Secretary  a  mere  figurehead. 
With  his  old  time  energy,  he  went  to  work  and  infused  new  life 
into  every  department,  united  all  the  business  under  one  head, 
himself  the  director.  The  department  grew  in  favor  and  popu- 
larity with  the  whole  country.  The  business  transacted  by  it  was 
enormous.  The  volumes  of  the  decisions  of  Secretary  Thomp- 
son, in  law  cases  alone,  were  larger  than  those  of  the  Attorney 
General.  ..."  (J.  F.  Bivins,  "  The  Life  of  Jacob  Thompson," 
Historical  Papers  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Trinity  College, 
Durham,  N.  C.,  1898,  p.  88.  For  the  rest  of  his  career  as  Secre- 
tary of  Interior,  see  chapter  IV  of  this  study.) 

The  writer  of  the  letter  below,  William  Crump,  was  a  Virginia 
politician  and  a  supporter  of  the  Hunter  faction  there.  The  senti- 
ments are  a  typical  indication  of  the  more  moderate  sentiment  in 
the  South  at  the  time. 

Richmond,  February  3rd,  1858 
My  dear  Sir  : 

Amid  the  universal  applause  &  congratulations  of  the  wise  and 
just  which  your  last  message  will  evoke,  I  do  not  know  but  that 
it  may  seem  presumptnous  in  me  to  express  to  you  my  sense  of 
the  grateful  admiration  which  filled  my  breast  as  I  read  its  clear 
and  comprehensive  statements,  to  its  powerful  and  persuasive 
argumentation  and  its  effectionate  &  manly  &  patriotic  appeals. 
You  will  pardon  me,  I  trust,  if,  in  the  flow  of  sentiment  it  has 
inspired,  I  have  been  made  to  forget  that  you  are  only  the  Presi- 
dent, &  to  feel  that  a  clearer  &  kindlier  tie  unites  us,  as  your 
words  of  fraternal  counsel,  and  of  earnest  &  spirit  stirring  en- 
treaty fell  upon  my  ears.  I  cannot  doubt  but  that  angry  elements 
of  faction  &  of  strife,  will  subside  before  the  presence  of  one  who 
rebukes  them  in  the  laguage  of  the  Republican  fathers — in  the 
language  of  reason,  of  truth  and  of  patriotism. 

But  if  unhappily  the  demon  of  discord  will  not  be  stilled,  and  a 
severed  union  &  hostile  sections  &  civil  war  shall  dishonor  our 
forefathers — desecrate  the  fabric  ( ?)  reared  by  their  toil  and 
cemented  by  their  blood,  and  devastate  our  teeming  fields  &  red- 
den our  hearth-stones ;  however  your  heart  may  sadden  &  may 
sicken  at  the  spectacle,  you  cannot  reproach  yourself,  posterity 
will  not  reproach  you  for  not  admonishing  &  imploring  your 
5 


54  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

country-men  to  forget  their  dessentions,  to  bury  their  feuds,  and 
to  stand  firmly  and  safely  by  the  Constitution  &  the  Union. 

The  obligation  which  we  of  the  South,  are  under  to  you,  what- 
ever betides  us,  can  never  be  forgotten.  Your  heroic  vindication 
of  our  constitutional  rights  is  without  a  parallel  in  our  history, 
for  no  statesman  whose  personal  interests  &  affiliations  were 
north,  has  ever  been  subjected  to  the  terrible  ordeal  through 
which  you  have  triumphantly  passed.  While  a  tongue  or  a  pen 
remains  to  us  to  preserve  in  tradition,  or  to  embalm  in  history 
the  memory  of  your  disinterested  &  exalted  conduct,  be  assured 
that  your  name  will  be  a  "  household  word  "  among  us. 

We  do  not  hope — the  intelligent  among  us  have  never  hoped 
to  perpetuate  slavery  in  Kansas.  It  is  plain  to  us  &  has  long 
been  that  an  overwhelming  majority  are  against  us.  But  it  only 
makes  the  outrage  more  wanton  &  atrocious ;  that  they  will  not 
exercise  their  power  legitimately ;  but  perversely  &  insultingly 
persist  in  crushing  us,  without  &  against  law.  This  will  not  be 
borne  I  sincerely  believe.  Our  people  are  pretty  incensed  &  here, 
as  at  the  North,  the  aggressive  agents  are  most  active  &  most 
potential.  The  conservative — those  who  calculate  the  cost  &  in 
the  end  will  be  most  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice  if  it  cannot  be 
avoided — look  with  eager  expectation  upon  your  efforts  &  yet 
believe  they  will  be  successful  in  preserving  the  Union  and  har- 
mony of  these  States.  But  I  meant  not  to  discuss  the  subject, 
but  in  writing  to  you  to  express  my  thanks  to  you  for  your  gen- 
erous defense  of  our  rights.  I  fear  that  I  have  expressed  them 
perhaps  too  warmly,  but  I  have  followed  my  instincts  in  what  is 
written  &  will  not  rewrite.  I  expect  &  desire  no  answer,  but  I 
could  not  forbear  the  expression  of  the  grateful  sentiments  with 
which  I  am  sincerely,  Your  friend, 

Wm.  W.  Crump, 

In  the  middle  of  the  summer  Floyd  became  very  ill  of  a  car- 
buncle and  was  threatened  with  spinal  complications.  As  a  re- 
sult, he  was  allowed  a  leave  of  absence  from  Washington  until 
the  autumn.  Buchanan  added  to  his  own  duties  those  of  Secre- 
tary of  War  during  the  same  period.  A  number  of  letters  pass- 
ing between  the  various  members  of  the  Administration  at  this 
time  give  an  interesting  commentary  on  the  passing  and  future 
events  in  the  political  arena. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     55 

(L.  C.) 

Washington  14  July  1859. 
My  dear  Sir/ 

I  have  on  purpose  delayed  to  answer  your  favor  of  the  6th 
Instant  awaiting  the  return  of  Governor  Floyd.  On  last  evening 
I  learned  from  his  lady  that  he  had  abandoned  the  idea  of  visit- 
ing Bedford  &,  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians  at  the  Alum 
Springs,  would  go  to  the  Hot  Springs.  For  this  I  am  extremely 
sorry  as  I  do  not  believe  there  are  any  waters  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  from  which  he  would  derive  so  much  benefit  as  those  at 
Bedford.     His  health,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  far  from  good. 

Whilst  it  would  afford  me  very  great  pleasure  to  accept  your 
kind  invitation;  yet  I  need  not  say  how  inconvenient  it  is  for 
ladies  to  stop  half  way  on  a  journey.  The  weather  being  exces- 
sively hot  we  have  determined  not  to  leave  here  until  the  after- 
noon of  Monday  &  go  through  to  Cumberland  the  same  night. 
With  many  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation  &  many  regrets  that 
I  cannot  accept  it  &  with  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Faulkner  I 
remain, 

Very  respectfully, 
Your  friend, 
James  Buchanan 
Hon  Charles  J  Faulkner 

Mr.  Faulkner  was  preferred  by  Wise  over  Floyd  for  Secretary 
of  War,  but  Floyd  was  more  popular,  and  Wise  finally  recom- 
mended his  appointment. 

(H.  S.  P.) 

Attorney  General's  Office 
July  23,  1859. 
My  dear  Sir  : 

Though  I  do  not  doubt  that  you  have  seen  the  article  in  the 
Pittsburgh  Post  which  proposes  you  as  a  candidate  for  re-elec- 
tion, I  enclose  it  to  you,  nevertheless,  with  the  suggestion  that 
perhaps  you  may  regard  this  as  a  good  occasion  for  declaring  your 
unalterable  determination  to  retire. 

The  enclosed  letter  from  Barr  was  sent  me  by  Dawson.  Barr 
seems  to  be  afraid  of  misconstruction,  and  his  conduct  is  cer- 
tainly not  altogether  such  as  frees  him  from  the  imputation  he  is 
afraid  of.  But  I  am  satisfied  that  he  meant  nothing  but  good  to 
you  as  well  as  to  the  party.  I  think,  too,  that  his  editorial  article 
is  not  calculated  to  do  the  slightest  injury  to  either. 

It  is  extremely  probable  that  your  enemies  will  charge  you  with 
acquiesing  in  the  position  which  the  Post  places  you  in,  unless  you 
define  one  for  yourself.     But  on  all  this  subject  I  do  not  persume 


56  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

to  advise.     Your  better  judgment  will   determine   your  course 
without  reference  to  anything  which  I  say. 

About  the  time  you  return,  I  shall  be  under  the  necessity  of 
going  to  Western  Pennsylvania  where  I  have  much  to  do,  and 
where  I  have  some  friends  who  continue  to 

"  Yearn  o'er  the  little  good,  and  pardon  my  much  ill." 

While  there,  I  may  be  tempted  to  buy  myself  a  residence  suited 
to  my  narrow  circumstances  and  simple  tastes.  But  my  atten- 
tion has  been  somewhat  strongly  turned  to  Anandale.  I  saw 
Stamburgh  a  little  while  after  you  left,  and  though  I  asked  him 
no  questions  about  it,  he  said  that  I  could  easily  make  an  arrange- 
ment (he  did  not  mention  how)  by  which  I  could  get  it.  Your 
name  was  not  mentioned.  I  take  it  for  granted,  therefore,  that 
in  purchasing  it  from  you  I  would  not  be  interfering  with  any 
rights  or  supposed  rights  of  his.  That  being  the  case,  I  should 
be  very  much  obliged  if  you  will  name  the  price  and  the  terms 
on  which  you  are  willing  to  part  with  it.  Ceteris  paribus  I  would 
prefer  it  greatly  to  any  other  place  in  the  world,  on  account  of  the 
neighborhood  to  Wheatland.  Perhaps  in  retirement,  I  can  per- 
form the  duties  of  a  friendship  sincere  enough  to  make  you  some 
little  atonement  for  my  faults  as  a  public  officer.  A  simple  line 
stating  the  price  and  in  what  payments  is  all  I  ask. 

I  ought  to  add  that  I  would  not  have  troubled  you  about  this 
matter  except  that  I  am  troubled  myself  with  offers  from  other 
quarters  which  I  am  unwilling  to  reject  absolutely  until  I  Have 
at  least  some  idea  how  Anandale  can  be  got. 

I  am  very  respectfully, 
To/The  President,  yours  &  c. 

Bedford  Springs,  Pa.  J.  S.  Black 


(L.  C.) 


Washington  5  August  1859 


My  dear  Sir/ 

I  regret  to  learn  from  Mr  Drinkard  that  your  health  has  not 
improved  so  much  as  we  all  expected  &  desired.  I  trust  in 
Heaven,  that  we  may  speedily  receive  information  of  a  more  de- 
cided improvement.  In  the  mean  time  I  beg  you  not  to  feel  the 
slightest  uneasiness  on  account  of  your  absence  from  the  Depart- 
ment. However  desirable  your  presence  might  be,  still  this  is  of 
no  consequence  when  compared  with  the  restoration  of  your 
health.  Although  we  would  get  along  much  better  with  you ; 
yet  Mr  Drinkard  &  myself  can  do  the  business.  Let  your  mind 
rest  entirely  easy  on  this  subject. 

We  returned  from  the  Bedford  Springs  on  Tuesday  evening 
last.     I  have  had  occasion  whilst  there,  as  at  all  former  periods, 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM      57 

to  observe  the  wonderful  effects  of  these  marvellous  waters. 
Their  virtue,  however,  is  confined  to  diseases  of  the  liver,  the 
stomach  &  the  kidneys,  &  to  all  bilious  complaints.  When  your 
brother  informed  me  that  you  were  not  suffering-  under  any  of 
these  maladies,  I  was  reconciled  to  go  to  Bedford  without  you, 
though  I  had  set  my  heart  on  enjoying  your  company. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  news  which  would  be  interesting  to  you 
that  you  do  not  see  in  the  papers.  I  have  done  my  best  to  assure 
the  public  that  I  would  not  be  a  candidate  for  renomination  or 
re-election ;  though  I  learn  that  the  Richmond  Inquirer  still  in- 
sists that  I  am  a  candidate.  The  editor  knows  better,  though  the 
object  is  plain.  It  is  to  create  a  pretext  for  charging  me  with 
hypocrisy  &  falsehood.  Well  let  it  be  so.  I  have  not  seen  the 
paper  myself. 

Speculations  still  continue  as  to  who  will  be  the  next  Candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  I  had  not  a  very  good  opportunity  of  ascer- 
taining the  public  sentiment  of  Penna  on  this  subject  whilst  at 
Bedford  nor  has  this  been  formed ;  but  there  is  considerable  talk 
both  of  Lane  &  Breckenridge. 

With  my  kindest  regards  to  Mrs.  Floyd,  I  remain  always  sin- 
cerely &  respectfully  your  friend, 

James  Buchanan 
Hon :  John  B.  Floyd 

(H.  S.  P.) 

Healing  Springs,  Va., 
8th  August  1859. 
My  dear  Sir  : 

I  was  in  the  act  of  writing  to  you  when  I  received  your  very 
kind  letter.  I  cannot  express  adequately  the  grateful  obligation 
I  feel  under  to  you,  for  your  thoughtful  consideration  of  me  since 
my  unfortunate  attack :  and  for  what  is  still  more  gratifying  to 
me,  your  kind  sympathy  for  my  wife  before  she  left  Washing- 
ton. It  has  been  the  theme  of  her  constant  conversation  since  she 
joined  me  &  has  made  an  indelible  impression  upon  the  gratitude 
of  us  both. 

I  have  not  had  the  heart  to  write  you  before,  for  I  desired 
when  I  did  so,  to  be  able  to  say  with  some  degree  of  .  .  .  (not 
clear)  hope  that  my  condition  was  improved.  But  this  I  can- 
not assert.  I  do  not  see  that  this  slight  improvement  I  have  made 
in  any  thing  beyond  the  effects  of  the  mere  quiet  &  rest  which 
this  secluded  nook  insures.  The  carbuncle  I  suffered  from,  is 
scarcely  improved,  although  these  waters  have  a  marvelous  reputa- 
tion for  efficiency  in  all  such  cases.  I  have  some  reason  to  fear 
that  the  true  seat  of  the  disease  is  spinal  which  discourages  me. 


58  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

I  pray  for  vitality  enough  to  make  me  fully  able  to  perform  the 
duties  of  my  office,  and  to  contribute  my  humble  share  towards 
that  triumph  of  your  administration,  which  as  certainly  awaits 
you  as  the  expiration  of  your  time;  and  which  is  with  me  the 
cheerful  &  strongest  wish  of  my  life. 

I  have  talked  a  good  deal  to  gentlemen  from  all  quarters  of  the 
country  since  I  came  to  the  mountains  and  the  sentiment  of  ap- 
proval of  you  &  your  course  amongst  the  Democracy  is  both 
universal  &  hearty.  In  this  State  the  masses  are  as  sound  &  as 
united  as  they  ever  were  upon  any  national  issue  &  the  course  of 
the  Enquirer  will  effect  nothing  but  its  own  ruin.  I  have  not  as 
yet  met  with  a  single  advocate  of  Mr.  Wise  for  the  Presidency  in 
this  State,  not  one.  This  I  think  remarkable  considering  the 
popularity  he  did  possess,  and  extraordinary  efforts  he  has  been 
all  the  time  making.  But  if  he  had  any  advocates  I  think  his 
last,  his  very  last  letter  to  New  York  would  have  shaken  them 
loose  from  him.  How  this  letter  is  generally  supposed  to  be  a 
forgery  for  even  Wise's  folly  is  scarcely  thought  to  be  capable  of 
such  a  stupendrous  blunder.  I  am  more  than  ever  confirmed  in 
the  opinion  that  he  is  a  deranged  man. 

Here  as  you  found  it  in  Pa.,  the  chief  prominence  is  given  to 
Breckinridge  &  Lane  in  the  public  conversation  for  the  presidency. 
If  Lane's  friends  make  no  mistake,  his  prospects  will  be  better 
than  those  of  any  other  man  I  know.  There  is  a  feeling  of  great 
kindness  expressed  for  him  by  everyone,  and  those  to  whom  the 
idea  of  his  candidacy  is  new  are  strongly  impressed  with  his 
availability. 

Mrs.  Floyd  has  been  confined  to  her  room  ever  since  she  joined 
me  owing  partly  to  rheumatism  &  somewhat  to  an  injury  she  re- 
ceived to  one  of  her  knees  as  she  came  out.  She  is  recovering 
however  now,  and  will  be  well  I  hope  in  a  short  time.  She  begs 
you  will  accept  her  most  respectful  regards  and  with  kindest  re- 
membrances of  us  both  to  Miss  Lane.  Believe  me  my  dear  Sir 
to  be  most 

Sincerely  your  friend, 
To  his  Excy.  John  B.  Floyd 

James  Buchanan 

President  of  the  U.  States 

Letter  of  Buchanan  to  Floyd.     L.  C. 

(Note  by  Judge  Robt.  W.  Hughes  of  Va.) 
Letter  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  showing  the  relations 
which  subsisted  between  him  and  Gov.  Floyd 
throughout   his   administration   until   near  the 
end. 

R.  W.  H. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS   PROBLEM     59 

Soldiers  Home,  Sunday  14,  August  1859 
My  dear  Sir/ 

Our  good  friend,  Mr.  Buck,  is  about  to  proceed  to  the  Healing 
Springs  tomorrow  morning  &  I  embrace  the  opportunity  of  writ- 
ing to  you.  I  have  received  your  kind  favor  of  the  8th  Instant  & 
desire  again  to  assure  you  that  we  are  getting  along  quite  well  in 
your  absence.  Any  little  inconvenience  experienced  is  nothing, 
less  than  nothing,  compared  with  the  restoration  of  your  health. 
Compared  with  this,  an  additional  absence  of  three  months  would 
not  be  regarded.  You  ought  to  relieve  your  mind  altogether  from 
business,  cultivate  agreeable  society,  study  to  obtain  Christian 
tranquillity  of  spirit,  &  avoid  all  depression  of  mind.  We  all  in 
this  neighbourd  feel  deep  solicitude  about  Mrs.  Floyd  &  yourself 

[sic] 
&  indulge  the  agreeable  anticipation  of  having  you  both  with  us 
again  in  the  Autumn. 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Thompson  left  for  the  White  Sulphur  yesterday. 
He  is  not  to  be  absent  more  than  a  fortnight.  Mr.  Cobb  is  now 
daily  expected ;  but  I  suppose  the  next  Cabinet  meeting  will  con- 
sist of  General  Cass,  Mr.  Jones,  Mr  Holt  &  myself  yet  we  shall 
get  along  very  well.  General  Cass  is  most  remarkable,  not  only 
for  benevolence  &  ability  at  his  great  age,  but  for  physical  quali- 
ties. He  does  not  seem  to  regard  one  of  his  dangerous  attacks  a 
button.  He  is  as  sprightly  &  lively  the  next  morning  as  though 
he  had  enjoyed  peaceful  &  uninterrupted  slumbers  the  night  be- 
fore. I  pray  Heaven  he  may  last  throughout  my  term  at  least : 
&  many  years  after.  He  &  I  are  now  about  the  last  of  the  "  old 
Fogies,"  &  we  must  soon  surrender  the  Government  to  you  young 
fellows.     I  hope  you  may  not  make  smashing  work. 

Wise  doesn't  believe  that  I  will  not  be  a  candidate ;  but  says  he 
has  knocked  my  aspirations  into  a  cocked  hat.  Your  military 
candidate,  General  Lane,  has  sustained  a  sad  blow  in  losing  his 
State.  I  am  sorry  for  it ;  but  it  may  not  prostrate  him.  I  mourn 
over  Wise,  because  I  cannot  forget  his  active  &  efficient  friendship 
in  the  hour  of  need.  If  he  should  "  bag  Boston  "  he  will  have  a 
chaos  of  troublesome  game  in  his  wallet. 

(The  remainder  of  the  President's  letter  pertained  to  some 
minor  appointments.) 

(L.  C.)  Washington 

Aug.  12.  1859 
My  dear  Sir, 

We  all  feel  much  anxiety,  respecting  your  condition.  I  was 
rejoiced  to  learn  from  Col.  Drinkard  yesterday,  that  you  were 
somewhat  better,  and  that  appearances  were  more  encouraging. 


60  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

I  trust,  my  good  friend,  that  you  will  keep  up  your  spirits,  for 
that  is  an  essential  element  of  recovery,  and  especially  when  a 
man  is  blessed  with  the  genial  disposition,  which  Providence  has 
given  to  you,  and  which  makes  for  you  such  hosts  of  attached 
friends.  We  never  meet  in  Cabinet,  without  the  interchange  of 
regret  at  your  absence  and  of  hope,  that  we  shall  soon  see  you  at 
your  post,  not  less  for  the  sake  of  the  Country,  than  for  our  own 
sake.  The  President  participates  in  this  feeling,  as  strongly  as 
any  of  us. 

As  to  political  affairs,  I  feel  little  disposition  to  write  you  about 
them.  I  am  impressed  with  the  conviction,  that  our  party  is  be- 
coming more  consolidated,  and  the  importance  realized  of  united 
action.  Certainly  the  signs  of  the  times  are  better.  I  will  not 
believe,  that  there  is  any  such  judgment  against  this  Country  in 
store,  as  the  defeat  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  above  all  at  this 
crisis. 

Trusting  we  shall  see  you  here  in  good, and  with  my 

best  respects  to  Mrs  Floyd  [sic] 

I  am  my  dear  Sir, 
Ever  your  friend 
Lew  Cass 
Hon.  J.  B.  Floyd 

(H.  S.  P.)  Sweet  Springs  Va. 

Aug.  21st.  1859. 
To 

His  Excellency 
James  Buchanan 
My  dear  Sir  : 

I  have  been  in  the  mountains  a  week  today — during  the  time  I 
had  one  real  shaking  ague.  This  annoyed  me  no  little,  and  the 
confinement  &  medicine  necessary  to  break  the  chill,  were  more 
annoying  still.  On  yesterday  I  felt  entirely  restored  and  left  the 
White  Sulphur  for  these  Springs.  We  reached  here  last  eve- 
ning. The  whole  establishment  is  crowded  &  our  accommodations 
are  inferior  to  what  they  were  at  the  White  Sulphur.  I  spent  all 
the  evening  with  Gov.  Floyd  and  Mrs  Floyd.  They  are  most 
comfortably  situated  and  both  look  better  than  I  was  prepared 
to  find.  Mrs  Floyd  is  thinner  and  feebler  than  when  you  saw 
her  last  but  still  she  walks  without  limping.  Gov.  Floyd's  skin 
is  clear,  his  flesh  is  somewhat  reduced,  and  he  only  complains  of 
debility.     I  am  now  encouraged  since  I  saw  him. 

I  wish  very  much  you  had  visited  these  Springs  instead  of 
going  to  Bedford,  or  rather  I  wish  you  could  still  visit  them.  The 
Mountains  are   full   of   people  of   character   &   influence.     They 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     61 

want  to  see  you  and  a  visit  would  be  very  highly  appreciated  by 
the  people.  Gov.  Floyd  thinks  it  would  be  a  great  point  if  you 
come,  politically. 

In  all  the  speculation  there  is  literally  nothing  new. 

Your  friend, 

J.  Thompson 
I  shall  certainly  return  next  Saturday  or  Sunday. 

(H.  S.  P.)  Red  Sweet  Springs 

5th  Sept.  1859. 
To  His  Excy. 

James  Buchanan 
President  of  the  U.  S. 
My  dear  Sir: 

It  is  just  two  months  today  since  I  left  Washington  in  hopes  of 
finding  health  in  the  mountains,  which  it  seemed  I  would  not  re- 
cover at  home.  I  am  sorry  to  say  the  improvement  has  not  fully 
answered  my  expectations.  Although  not  well  I  am  in  a  meas- 
ure relieved  and,  probably  if  I  had  allowed  the  ingredient  of  ad- 
vancing years  to  take  its  place  in  the  calculations,  my  improvement 
is  all  I  should  have  expected.  At  any  rate  I  am  not  the  least  dis- 
couraged but  on  the  contrary,  fell  that  I  will  command  the 
strength  for  my  duties;  &  that  too  with  a  full  appreciation  of 
what  they  will  require.  Indeed  the  necessity  I  feel  there  will  be 
next  winter  for  health  &  strength  nerves  me  far  beyond  all  the 
mineral  waters  of  the  mountains.  When  we  get  fairly  into  the 
conflict,  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  fully  restored. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  from  all  I  gather  this  summer  from  every 
source,  that,  the  effort,  next  winter  will  be  to  crush  the  Demo- 
cratic party  by  breaking  down  your  Administration  at  any  cost  & 
by  every  means  which  unscrupulous  malignity  can  devise.  I 
think  that  no  previous  Congress  carried  on  such  a  warfare  ever, 
as  will  characterize  the  next.  But  I  feel  in  my  inmost  man,  that 
I  shall  bring  up  &  maintain  my  column  in  your  support,  &  I  would 
sooner  die  than  to  relinquish  the  trial. 

If  we  are  beaten  in  the  organization  of  the  House,  defeat  will 
promote  cordiality  &  bitter  discipline  amongst  our  party  in  Con- 
gress :  which  will  be  our  immense  gain  upon  the  hermaphrodite 
organization  of  the  last  House  under  fat  Orr,  with  its  spirit  of 
political  insubordination.  If  we  are  beaten  in  the  House  you  can 
control  the  party  easily.  You  are  really  very  strong  with  the 
people ;  you  have  only  to  dictate  your  policy  &  to  excommunicate 
all  who  fail  or  refuse  to  sustain  it,  to  organize  the  party  &  secure 
harmonius  action  sufficient  to  carry  whatever  their  united  strength 
can  accomplish.     You  have  power  in  the  South  because  you  are 


62  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

identified  fully  with  the  conservatism  of  the  South:  &  this  was 
never  stronger  than  it  is  today.  The  efforts  to  form  extreme 
parties  here  this  summer  have  signally  failed.  Nothing  could  be 
more  pitible  than  the  abortive  efforts  of  Gov.  Adams,  on  the  Slave 
trade  question.  The  movement  did  not  rise  to  the  dignity  of  con- 
tempt, so  too  with  regard  to  a  project  attempted  to  be  gotten  up 
for  the  "  peaceful  colonization  "  of  Sonora,  a  sort  of  varialoid 
form  of  filibustering. 

Amongst  others  I  met  here  your  friend,  Mr.  Branch  of  North 
Carolina.  He  is  far  above  the  generality  of  Congress  in  point 
of  talent,  &  superadded  to  this,  he  has  the  mind  of  being  a  true 
friend  of  yours  &  your  Administration. 

You  would  be  greatly  impressed,  I  am  sure,  to  witness  the  pro- 
found &  almost  criminal  indifference  of  all  men  &  all  papers  upon 
the  subject  of  the  next  presidential  nomination.  The  only  points 
universally  agreed  upon  are  that  Douglas  &  Wise  are  "...  over 
Tailors."  The  fiat  of  the  people  has  gone  forth  against  them. 
Douglas'  last  exposition  of  Squatter  Sovereignty  will  finally  ex- 
tinguish him.  Besides  being  the  most  objectionable  in  principle, 
it  is  the  most  sophistical  thing  that  has  come  from  the  Little 
Giant's  inscrupulous  pen. 

I  shall  not  avail  myself  of  your  kind  &  considerate  "  leave  of 
absence  "  to  so  late  as  first  of  the  fall ;  although  the  offer  of  it  in 
the  terms  you  were  good  enough  to  use  touched  me  most  sensibly. 
I  will  return  shortly  to  my  post. 

I  fear  I  have  scarcely  been  able  to  preserve  as  you  suggested 
"  a  Christian  Cheerfulness,"  although  my  mind  has  been  exercised 
with  scriptural  associations.  I  .  .  .  much  on  "  the  chosen  people 
of  the  Lord."  The  next  room  is  occupied  by  a  remnant  of  "  the 
children  of  Isreal,"  and  since  their  illustrious  progenitors  threw 
down  the  walls  of  Jerico  with  the  thunder  of  their  ram's  horns, 
I  am  sure  no  such  Isrealitish  drone  as  my  friends  keep  up  con- 
stantly has  ever  saluted  gentile  ears.  The  next  best  thing  to  the 
New  Testament,  no  doubt,  is  the  Old  to  engage  one's  thoughts. 

Mrs.  Floyd  joins  me  in  the  kindest  regards  to  Miss  Lane  & 
yourself  with  which  I  beg  to  assure  you  I  am  always  truly  your 

friend, 

John  B.  Floyd 

(L.  C.) 

My  dear  Sir/ 

In  preparing  your  instructions  to  the  commanding  Officer  at 
Harper's  Ferry  it  will  be  necessary  to  point  out  to  him  in  what 
case  he  may  interfere  in  the  requisition  of  the  Marshal.     You 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  THE  KANSAS  PROBLEM     63 

had  better  see  Judge  Black  so  that  your  instructions  to  the  Com- 
manding Officer  &  his  to  the  marshal  may  correspond 

Yr.  friend 

James  Buchanan 
Governor  Floyd 

1859  (Oct.) 
It  refers  to  the  instructions  to  be  given  to 
Col.  Robert  E.  Lee,  who  was  sent  to  reduce 
John  Brown  at  Harper's  Ferry 

R.  W.  H.  (Note  by  Judge 

Robt.  W.  Hughes 

of  Norfolk,  Va. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  note  to  review  the  whole  Scott- 
Buchanan  controversy  over  General  Scott's  "  views."  The  matter 
has  been  thoroughly  treated  by  Buchanan,  Black  and  Curtis. 
(One  of  the  places  most  easily  available  is  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  chap. 
XIV  and  pp.  365-368;  416;  417.)  The  following  is  a  good  sum- 
mary of  Buchanan  views  on  the  subject,  adding  a  bit  of  new  in- 
formation. It  was  written  to  Edwin  M.  Stanton  before  he  had 
joined  the  Republicans.     (L.  C.) 

Wheatland,  April  8,  1861. 
My  dear  Sir  : — 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  favor  of  April  3rd  and  that  which 
preceded  it. 

From  the  notes  of  preparation  it  may  be  fairly  inferred  that 
the  Administration  intends  to  make  a  hostile  demonstration  some- 
where in  the  Confederate  States.  If  so,  Virginia  will,  I  fear, 
speedily  secede. 

Your  recollect,  perhaps  not,  for  it  has  attracted  but  little  atten- 
tion North,  the  very  unfortunate  recommendation  of  Gen.  Scott 
to  garrison  nine  forts  including  Fortress  Monroe  in  six  of  the 
States  which  afterwards  seceded.  This  document  was  dated  on 
the  29  October  i860, — before  the  Presidential  election  &  before 
any  disloyal  movement  on  the  part  of  any  State.  It  excited  much 
indignation  throughout  the  South,  caused  the  violent  and  unspar- 
ing abuse  of  its  author  throughout  the  Southern  States  &  afforded 
the  pretext,  if  not  the  reason,  for  their  rash  &  unjustifiable  con- 
duct in  seizing  the  forts.  When  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Slidell, 
I  denounced  Louisiana  for  having  seized  the  Forts  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, he  declared  they  would  never  have  thought  of  such  a 
proceeding  but  for  the  threatening  communication  of  General 
Scott.  I  wish  you  would  get  his  "  View  "  which  he  sent  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  myself  under  his  own  hand.  I  know  they 
were  communicated  immediately  to  the  South  but  not  by  whom, 


64  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

&  I  think  their  substance  was  at  once  heralded  in  the  New  York 
Press.  I  should  be  very  much  indebted  to  you  if  you  would 
ascertain  when  they  were  first  announced  in  the  public  "  Press." 
It  is  not  very  long  since  they  were  published  in  the  National  In- 
telligencer with  some  prefactory  remarks  no  doubt  dictated  by 
the  General  himself.  No  man  but  General  Scott  could  ever  have 
written  such  a  paper ;  but  it  was  sufficient  to  set  the  South  on  fire. 
It  was  under  such  circumstances,  when  the  Forts  in  Charleston 
harbor  were  in  no  danger,  as  the  event  has  proved,  before  South 
Carolina  had  seceded  &  whilst  she  was  performing  all  her  rela- 
tive duties  to  the  Union  that  I  was  urged  to  send  reinforcements 
there  and  commence  the  conflict.  This  too  at  a  time  as  General 
Scott  must  have  known  when  I  had  not  more  than  500  troops 
disposable  for  any  purpose.  I  deemed  it  wise  policy  to  adopt  all 
means  in  my  power  to  prevent  the  other  Slave  States,  who  did  not 
favor  disunion,  from  making  common  cause  with  South  Carolina 
which  was  a  disunion  state  per  se.  Never  was  a  prediction  better 
calculated  to  its  own  fulfilment  than  the  "  Views  "  of  General 
Scott. 

I  have  enjoyed  excellent  health  since  my  return  to  this  place  & 
have  not  been  sick  a  single  minute  notwithstanding  what  the 
papers  say.  I  feel  ten  years  younger  though  time  rolls  on  apace 
&  I  shall  be  70  years  of  age  on  the  23d  of  this  month  should 
Providence  spare  my  life. 

I  should  be  very  happy  to  see  you  here ;  but  should  be  sorry  if 
you  would  neglect  important  business  to  come  without  necessity. 
I  do  not  perceive  that  such  exists  to  the  present  moment.  You 
would  be  still  the  more  welcome  should  you  bring  Mrs.  Stanton 
along. — I  should  be  more  content  in  my  present  situation  were  it 
not  for  my  anxiety  about  the  state  of  the  country. 

From  your  friend, 
Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  James  Buchanan 

P.  S.  You  will  observe  that  General  Scott  cites  Paley's  Philoso- 
phy in  favor  of  coercion,  "  Last  Chapter  "  &  there  is  not  a  word 
in  that  or  any  other  Chapter  of  the  book  to  give  the  slightest 
countenance  to  the  principle  he  asserts.  Paley  instead  of  the 
Constitution ! 

(It  might  be  added  that  at  the  time  Scott  presented  his 
"  Views  "  there  were  not  enough  troops  to  garrison  the  forts  in 
the  South.  Floyd  had  had  some  difficulty  getting  enough  troops 
to  quell  some  Indian  troubles  in  Oregon,  and  General  Houston 
waited  in  vain  for  more  troops  to  aid  in  driving  marauders  who 
were  making  raiding  parties  on  Texas  from  Mexico.  Scott  had 
also  conceded  the  legality  of  secession  which  the  President  did 
not  admit.  At  the  time  of  the  above  letter  Scott  had  evidently 
become  a  coercionist.) 


CHAPTER  III 

Buchanan's  Ministers 

Buchanan's  Ministers  as  a  Factor  in  his  Policy — Sources  of  In- 
formation— Relations  of  Each  of  the  Members  of  the  Cabinet 
with  the  President  on  the  Eve  of  Secession :  Cobb,  Thomas,  Dix, 
Cass,  Stanton,  Holt,  King,  Toucey,  Floyd,  Black,  Thompson — 
Buchanan's  Valuation  of  his  Cabinet — His  Contact  with  the  Lead- 
ers of  the  Democracy. 

After  the  results  of  the  Election  of  i860,  Buchanan  had  no 
doubt  as  to  opposition  which  was  to  follow.  The  sun  of  success 
had  cast  dying  rays  on  the  ante-bellum  Democracy.  He  ably 
stated  his  unenviable  situation  in  his  book  published  some  years 
later, 

The  President  had  less  than  four  months  to  complete  his  term 
of  office.  The  Democratic  party,  to  which  he  owed  his  election, 
had  been  defeated,  and  the  triumphant  party  had  pursued  his 
administration  from  the  beginning  with  a  virulence  uncommon 
even  in  our  history.  Every  act  of  his  had  been  misrepresented 
and  condemned,  and  he  knew  that  whatever  course  he  might  pur- 
sue, he  was  destined  to  encounter  their  bitter  hostility.  No  public 
man  was  ever  placed  in  a  more  trying  position.1 

The  situation  was  hardly  less  trying  to  the  several  members  of 
the  cabinet.  The  plight  of  the  members  from  the  Southern  states 
was  indeed  exceedingly  unenviable.  How  were  their  political 
ideas  and  ideals  going  to  react  to  the  events  that  were  to  follow? 
The  President's  task  was  the  securing  and  retaining  of  a  group 
of  ministers  who  would  subscribe  to  his  principles  and  remain 
with  him  to  the  end  of  his  term.  The  very  existence  of  his  gov- 
ernment was  bound  up  with  this  delicate  undertaking. 

Each  of  the  members  presented  a  different  phase  of  the  problem, 
and  will  be  separately  considered.  There  arises  the  question  as  to 
what  Buchanan  really  thought  of  his  Cabinet  and  how  far  they 
really  entered  in  his  schemes  and  plans  for  the  solution  of  his 
difficulties. 

The  sources  for  this  portion  of  the  study  must  be  carefully 

1  Buchanan,  p.  109. 

65 


66  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

weighed  by  any  one  who  attempts  to  synthesize  them.  Black, 
whose  accounts  are  most  voluminous,  became  rabidly  anti-Southern 
in  his  later  years.  He  was  also,  unconsciously,  very  egotistic. 
Stanton  in  private  conversations  did  not  hesitate  to  vilify  his 
former  friends,  and  tried  to  enlarge  the  halo  around  his  own  head. 
Holt,  Dix,  and  King  became  Republicans  during  the  war  and 
tried  to  increase  their  "  coercive  "  record  in  matters  applying  to 
the  South,  once  they  had  repudiated  their  political  faith  of  former 
days.  Holt  tried  to  straddle,  in  his  attempts  to  praise  both 
Stanton  and  Buchanan.  Buchanan  was  annoyed  at  Holt's  ex- 
travagant remarks  on  Stanton.  Floyd  spent  most  of  his  time  de- 
fending his  own  position, — a  fact  which  can  well  be  tolerated 
owing  to  the  malignity  of  his  enemies.  The  statements  of  Thomp- 
son and  Thomas  are  probably  the  most  reliable.  Few  statements 
by  Toucey  are  available.  He  and  Buchanan  were  the  only  ones 
who  changed  the  least  all  the  way  through  the  war  period.  All 
of  the  Cabinet  (except  Stanton)  paid  notable  tributes  to  Buchan- 
an's character  and  ability,  but  they  never  lost  a  chance  to  say  a 
good  word  for  themselves  when  they  differed  with  him.  Conse- 
quently we  have  many  variations  of  impressions  of  events  in  that 
exciting  period. 

One  of  the  main  conditions  that  must  be  mentioned  is  that  all 
of  the  Northern  members  of  the  Cabinet  were  very  hostile  towards 
certain  United  States  Senators  whom  Buchanan  naturally  held  in 
high  favor.  Their  dislike  against  these  men  is  so  apparent  that 
their  scathing  remarks  must  not  be  too  seriously  considered. 

Cobb,  who  had  considerable  political  influence  in  his  own  State 
long  before  he  came  into  the  Cabinet,  was  the  first  member  to 
resign.  One  of  Buchanan's  main  reasons  for  appointing  him 
was  that  he  had  been  a  strong  Unionist  in  1850.  By  1861  Howell 
Cobb  had  come  to  look  upon  a  Republican  Presidential  victory  as 
a  menace  to  republican  institutions. 

Black  said  of  his  character: 

No  one  who  knew  him,  either  as  a  co-worker  or  an  opponent, 
could  help  respecting  him.  He  was  honorable,  upright,  and  sin- 
cere, true  to  his  convictions,  perfectly  faithful  to  his  duties  as  he 
understood  them,  and  a  man  of  great  intellectual  ability. la 

ia  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  i88if 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  67 

Cobb  held  that  the  election  of  Lincoln  justified  secession  and 
had  consequently  vigorously  dissented  from  Buchanan's  message 
of  December  3d  but  decided  to  remain  in  the  cabinet.  By  De- 
cember 5th  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  follow  his  state  and  wrote 
a  public  letter  to  the  people  of  Georgia.  (Black  had  previously 
suggested  they  both  present  their  views  to  Buchanan,  let  him  de- 
cide, and  that  the  rejected  one  should  quit  the  Cabinet;  but  this 
hurt  Cobb's  feelings,  and  Black  apologized.)  The  letter  set  his 
course,  and  his  resignation  followed.2 

The  parting  was  a  heart-wrench  for  both  President  and  Min- 
ister, but  it  was  inevitable.  Buchanan  passed  no  judgment  upon 
the  political  opinions  of  his  ministers  regarding  Secession,  but 
Cobb  had  now  gone  over  into  the  realm  of  action.3  Both  held 
each  other  in  high  esteem,  and  after  Buchanan's  retirement  Cobb 
wrote  him  an  affectionate  note  in  which  he  said : 

My  heart  often  prompted  me  to  write  you ;  but  whilst  you  re- 
mained in  Washington,  I  declined  to  do  so  because  I  knew  that  my 
opinions  differed  so  widely  from  yours  that  any  suggestions  from 
me  would  be  obtrusive  and  unacceptable.  Though  silent  I  sym- 
pathized with  you  in  every  embarrassment  which  you  encountered 
and  rejoiced  with  all  my  heart  when  the  fourth  of  March  came 
and  relieved  you  from  troubles  which  your  counsels  would  have 
avoided  but  which  were  forced  upon  you  by  the  folly  and  madness 
of  your  enemies  and  the  enemies  of  your  country.4 

The  brief  period  of  service  of  Philip  F.  Thomas  in  Buchanan's 
Cabinet  and  the  exact  reasons  for  his  resignation  are  well  told  by 
himself.  An  abridged  account  is  here  inserted.  His  views  are 
extremely  valuable  as  he  did  not  become  a  Republican  nor  did 
he  belong  to  the  extreme  Southern  group. 

You  will  perhaps  remember  that  I  had  for  eighteen  months 
been  Commissioner  of  Patents,  a  place  which  I  preferred  and 
would  again  prefer  to  any  under  the  government  were  I  in  active 
political  life. 

My  appointment  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  entirely  un- 
expected. .  .  . 

2  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  1881. 

3  A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  505-519. 

4  A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  554. 


68  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

He  then  tells  how  he  was  informed  first  by  a  Colonel  Berrett 
and  later  by  Thompson : 

I  explained  to  him  that  I  was  averse  to  accepting  it.  I  said  I 
did  not,  in  the  then  chaotic  condition  of  affairs,  like  to  assume  such 
a  responsibility  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Treasury 
was  empty  and  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  due  within  a  very 
few  days.  Mr.  Thompson  insisted,  and  I  finally  accepted  the 
place.6 

The  Treasury  then  was  indeed  in  a  sorry  shape.  There  wasn't 
a  dollar  available  and  a  loan  had  to  be  negotiated  before  the 
interest  on  the  debt  could  be  paid.5a  Soon  after  my  assumption  of 
the  office,  Congress  passed  an  act  authorizing  a  $10,000,000.  loan, 
and  I  at  once  advertised  for  $5,000,000  at  12  per  cent  interest. 
This  large  rate  of  interest  was  demanded  on  account  of  the  un- 
settled condition  of  the  country  both  financially  and  politically.  I 
was  very  much  opposed  to  issuing  any  more  of  the  loan  authorized 
than  was  necessary  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  My 
opinion  was  that  the  act  of  Congress  had  given  ample  authority  for 
issuing  Treasury  notes  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  Government 
after  the  interest  on  the  debt  was  paid.  My  first  desire  was  to  pay 
the  interest  and  then  issue  Treasury  notes  for  the  balance  of  the 
$10,000,000.  instead  of  paying  12  per  cent  interest  on  the  whole 
loan.  Mr.  Buchanan,  however,  disagreed  with  me  and  thought 
that  the  full  amount  of  $10,000,000  should  be  negotiated.  I  there- 
fore advertised  for  the  additional  $5,000,000. 

This  loan  was  the  direct  cause  of  my  leaving  the  Cabinet  before 
the  expiration  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  term.  It  was  reported  to  me 
that  some  New  York  capitalists  had  gone  to  Mr.  Buchanan  and 
said  that  they  would  not  subscribe  for  the  loan  as  long  as  a 
Southern  man  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury.  I  visited 
Mr.  Buchanan  and  asked  him  if  it  were  true  that  he  listened  to 
such  a  reflection  upon  the  honor  of  one  of  his  Cabinet  officers. 
He  replied  that  such  a  statement  had  been  made  to  him.  I  an- 
swered, "  Very  well,  then,  my  connection  with  the  Department 
must  cease."  He  spoke  about  my  taking  the  Interior  Department 
from  which  Mr.  Thompson  had  resigned.  I  replied  in  the  neg- 
ative and  wrote  my  letter  of  resignation.  I  had,  of  course,  dis- 
agreed with  him  somewhat  as  to  his  Southern  policy,  and  assigned 
that  as  the  reason  why  I  left  the  Cabinet.  What  was  disagreeable 
to  me  was  that  any  man  should  question  my  fidelity  to  the  trust  I 
held,  no  matter  how  much  I  disagreed  as  to  Mr.  Buchanan's  politi- 
cal policy. 

5  Philadelphia  Press,  August  14,  1881. 

5a  This  was  not  due  to  any  maladministration  by  Cobb.  See  E.  P.  Ober- 
holtzer,  "  Jay  Cook,  Financier  of  the  Civil  War,"  Philadelphia,  1907,  vol. 
I,  pp.  124-7. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  69 

My  service  in  the  Cabinet  was  anything  but  an  agreeable  part 
of  my  public  life.  We  were  almost  constantly  in  session  during 
the  month.  I  was  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  ready  to  meet  any 
emergency  that  might  arise,  and  there  were  grave  responsibilities 
coming  upon  us  every  day.  While  I  held  that  this  Government 
was  a  compact  between  the  States  and  that  each  was  sovereign  and, 
therefore,  had  the  right  of  secession,  I  also  held  that  the  central 
Government  had  the  right  of  coercion  if  she  chose  to  exercise  it. 

A  Believer  in  Nullification 
I  was  and  still  am  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  nullification  as 
expounded  by  Mr.  Calhoun.  I  also  believed  that  an  officer  of  the 
Government  had  no  right  to  hold  his  position  and  do  any  act 
calculated  to  bring  discredit  upon  its  authority,  and  Judge  Black's 
criticism  of  Jeff  Davis'  preparation  to  surrender  the  forts  in 
Charleston  Harbor  to  South  Carolina  meets  my  entire  approbation. 
My  position  upon  the  duty  of  an  officer  can  be  found  in  the  record 
of  the  Department  where  an  officer  of  a  revenue  cutter  ran  his 
vessel  into  Charleston  Harbor  and  turned  her  over  to  the  South 
Carolina  authorities  and  then  sent  me  his  resignation.  I  ordered 
that  it  be  not  accepted,  and  that  dishonor  be  written  over  his  record 
in  the  Department  and  that  he  be  dishonorably  dismissed  from  the 
service. 

Thomas'  successor  was  John  A.  Dix  of  New  York.  His  rela- 
tions with  Buchanan  have  already  received  some  notice  in  this 
study.  A  vigorous,  active  man,  he  possessed  a  love  of  sensation- 
alism. He  had  been  made  Postmaster  at  New  York  after  the 
default  of  Isaac  Fowler.  He  had  opposed  the  action  of  Dean 
Richmond  at  the  Charleston  Convention  (Richmond  was  a  pro- 
Douglas  man),  and  had  flayed  the  Republicans  with  invectives 
equal  to  those  of  Black. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  New  York  bankers  were  wary  about 
taking  up  the  loan,  for  fear  the  money  would  go  South.  It  has 
been  sometimes  stated  that  Buchanan  appointed  Dix  6  to  please 
this  group.  This  was  not  the  case.  Buchanan  was  angry  at  the 
action  of  the  New  York  bankers  and  wrote  to  Royal  Phelps  7 
(December  22,  i860)  : 

I  hope  the  Treasury  Note  Loan  may  be  taken  at  a  reasonable 
rate  of  interest.  No  security  can  be  better,  in  any  event,  whether 
the  Cotton  States  secede  or  not.  .  .  . 

6  Morgan  Dix,  "  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,"  Vol.  I,  Chap.  VIII. 

7  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  pp.  187-188.    Ibid.,  p.  47. 


70  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

I  cannot  imagine  that  any  adequate  cause  exists  for  the  extent 
and  violence  of  the  existing  panic  in  New  York.  Suppose,  most 
unfortunately,  that  the  Cotton  States  should  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  New  York  would  still  be  the  great  city  of  the  continent. 
We  shall  still  have  within  the  borders  of  the  remaining  States  all 
the  elements  of  wealth  and  prosperity.  New  York  would  doubt- 
less be  somewhat  retarded  in  her  rapid  march;  but,  possessing  the 
necessary  capital,  energy  and  enterprise,  she  will  always  command 
a  very  large  portion  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  very  States  which 
may  secede.  Trade  cannot  easily  be  drawn  from  its  accustomed 
channels.  I  would  sacrifice  my  own  life  at  any  moment  to  save 
the  Union,  if  such  were  the  will  of  God ;  but  this  great  and  enter- 
prising nation  is  not  to  be  destroyed  by  losing  the  Cotton  States 
even  if  this  loss  were  irreparable,  which  I  do  not  believe  unless 
from  some  unhappy  accident.8 

Buchanan  had  sent  for  Dix  to  take  charge  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment. 

Stanton,  however,  sent  King  to  the  station  to  ask  Dix  to  accept 
only  the  Treasury.  Dix  carried  out  the  instructions.9  Buchanan 
replied  that  "  he  thought  he  could  make  the  arrangements."  10  He 
may  have  intended  to  transfer  Thomas  to  the  Interior  Department, 
but  Thomas  resigned  instead. 

As  Dix  stayed  at  the  White  House  with  Buchanan,  their  rela- 
tions were  very  intimate.  Nothing  clearer  could  be  desired  for 
proof  that  Buchanan  was  running  his  own  government,  than  the 
fact  that  Dix  and  he  were  not  agreed  upon  the  policy  of  re-inforc- 
ing  the  forts.11  Dix  had  no  adequate  conception  of  the  Southern 
temperament,  so  he  considered  Buchanan  slow  and  timid.12  But 
he  found  Buchanan  set  on  the  very  wise  idea  that  the  North 
should  not  start  the  war, — an  idea  to  which,  he  states,  the  President 

8  Some  said  this  letter  showed  Buchanan  was  willing  to  part  with  the 
Cotton  States,  but  there  is  no  statement  of  what  Buchanan  intended  to  do  so 
anywhere  in  the  letter,  nor  did  he  in  any  other  place  say  he  favored  any 
such  idea. 

9  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  p.  189. 

10  Dix,  "  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,"  Vol.  I,  p.  371. 

II  Ibid.,  pp.  371,  372. 

12  See  11 :  His  statement  on  Buchanan's  credulity  is  amusing.  It  may  be 
true  to  the  extent  that  Buchanan  was  wont  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  all 
rumors  no  matter  of  what  nature.  He  was  in  this  sense  credulous  to 
some  degree. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  71 

clung  with  uncompromising  tenacity.  Dix  came  to  respect  Bu- 
chanan for  his  ability,  and  above  all  for  his  conscientiousness.13 
Mr.  Buchanan  found  Dix  a  very '  agreeable  and  pleasing  com- 
panion,  and  their   friendship  continued  until  Buchanan's   death. 

The  "  shoot  him  on  the  spot  "  telegram  which  Dix  sent  to  New 
Orleans  had  a  great  run  of  popularity  in  the  Northern  press  and 
gave  Dix  considerable  fame.  In  reality  it  was  a  farce.  The 
poor  meek  old  gentleman  to  whom  it  was  sent  barely  escaped  from 
New  Orleans  with  his  life  when  the  message  became  known.  Dix 
correctly  believed  that  Buchanan  would  not  have  allowed  him  to 
send  the  message,  so  it  was  sent  without  Buchanan's  knowledge. 
Buchanan,  however,  never  reproved  Dix  for  having  sent  it.  It 
is  to  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  telegram  had  a  very  salutary 
effect  in  keeping  Northern  confidence  back  of  the  Administration. 

Later  Dix  became  an  intimate  with  Bennett,  who  had  become 
one  of  Buchanan's  able  vilifiers,  yet  he  had  opposed  Bennett's  ap- 
pointment to  a  post  at  Turin.  The  failure  to  appoint  was,  in 
Buchanan's  opinion,  the  chief  source  of  the  trouble.  During  the 
war  he  became  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Republicans.  In  De- 
cember, i860,  he  had  favored,  like  many  other  conservatives, 
peaceful  separation,  provided  the  South  aided  in  attempting  com- 
promise. He  regarded  Sumter  as  a  cardinal  error,  and  withdrew 
all  his  sympathy  after  that  event.14  Later  he  exploited  his 
"  deeds  "  to  the  limit  in  his  latter  career. 

One  of  the  most  talked  of  resignations  from  the  cabinet  in  1861 
was  that  of  General  Cass.  Buchanan's  dislike  of  him  has  been 
already  mentioned.  This  psychological  fact  played  an  important 
role  at  the  time  of  his  departure  from  the  Cabinet.  Black  con- 
sidered Buchanan's  pique  as  unfair,  although  he  said  Cass  took 
it  good-naturedly.15  Consequently  the  differences  of  President 
and  Premier  were  few,  as  the  latter  was  little  more  than  a  cypher 
as  far  as  Buchanan  was  concerned. 

In  the  winter  of  1 859-1 860,  Cass  was  already  extremely  worried 

13  Rhodes  omits  most  of  Dix's  remarks  that  are  laudatory  of  Buchanan. 

14  "  He  went  into  the  war  because  by  the  action  of  the  South  the  chance 
of  peaceful  separation  had  been  destroyed."  Morgan  Dix,  "  Memoirs  of 
John  A.  Dix,"  Vol.  I,  p.  340. 

15  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  57,  58. 


72  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

over  the  fate  of  his  country,  and  came  late  at  night  to  the  house 
of  Roger  Pryor,  who  had  made  a  speech  looking  towards  disunion, 
and  urged  him  to  save  the  country  that  had  made  him  (Cass) 
what  he  was.16 

When  Buchanan's  message  of  December  3,  i860,  was  before  the 
Cabinet,  it  was  altered  to  suit  Cass,  who  wished  to  strengthen  the 
denial  of  the  right  to  coerce  a  State.  Later,  however,  the  Secre- 
tary became  anxious  to  reinforce  Sumter,  and  gave  that  as  the 
reason  for  his  resignation.17 

McLaughlin  had  tried  to  deny  that  Cass  desired  to  return  to  the 
Cabinet  by  giving  statements  of  Cass'  relatives  that  Cass  never 
said  anything  to  them  on  that  subject.  McLaughlin  is  right  and 
wrong.  The  cause  of  Cass'  silence  to  his  family  was  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  his  son-in-law  had  persuaded  him  to  resign. 
Black  thought  Cass'  son-in-law  and  others  were  at  the  bottom  of 
the  matter.  Naturally  he  kept  his  mind  to  himself,  as  he  had  no 
desire  for  further  criticism  from  members  of  his  own  household.18 

When  Black  told  Buchanan  that  Cass  would  resign,  Buchanan 
said  it  was  a  good  riddance,  and  later  recorded  that  Cass  was  no 
man  for  a  crisis  such  as  they  then  had  on  their  hands.  Black, 
however,  desired  Cass  to  return.19 

Buchanan  was  angry  because  the  resignation  of  Cass  had  put 
him  in  a  false  light  with  Northern  opinion.  Some  of  the  papers 
praised  Cass  for  his  action  and  called  Buchanan  a  traitor.20 
Buchanan  saw  that  if  Cass  returned  it  would  appear  as  a  victory 
for  Cass  at  his  expense.  He,  therefore,  was  opposed  to  the  idea 
of  having  him  return  to  his  official  family.  The  affair  taught 
him  that  if  anyone  else  left  his  Cabinet,  because  of  alleged  lack 
of  diligence  on  his  own  part,  it  would  spell  ruin  to  the  Government. 
Buchanan's  Government  must  in  the  last  resort  rest  upon  con- 
servative Northern  opinion,  and  he  realized  that  fact.  Person- 
ally, he  was  pleased  that  Cass  was  out  of  the  way.     Cass,  when 

16  Mrs.  Pryor's  "  Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War,"  pp.  100,  101. 
«  Ibid. 

18  Andrew  Cunningham  MacLaughlin,  "  Life  of  Lewis  Cass,"  New  York, 
1 891,  pp.  340-41. 

19  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  64.     An  excellent  letter  on  the  subject. 

20  B-9-,  The  Worcester  Spy  ran  a  headline :  "  Buchanan  Abets  Treason." 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  73 

he  saw  the  abuse  which  he  had  caused  to  be  heaped  upon  his  old 
chief,  regretted  his  resignation.  Black  believed  his  main  reason 
for  retiring  was  that  he  feared  the  immediate  destruction  of  the 
Administration,  and  desired  to  save  his  own  good  name.  He  said 
the  sentiment  in  his  own  section  would  not  sustain  him  if  he  re- 
mained. Black,  however,  persuaded  him  to  return,  and  ap- 
proached Buchanan  upon  the  subject,  but  Buchanan  replied  that, 
as  the  world  had  heard  all  about  the  trouble  in  the  four  days  that 
had  ensued,  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  reconsider  Cass*  resigna- 
tion.21 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  friend  of  Buchanan's,  Henry 
Wycliff,  said  the  same  thing  as  early  as  1857.  "  Although  Gen. 
Cass  when  in  Gen'l  Jackson's  cabinet  was  not  accustomed  to 
decide  questions  that  arose  .  .  .  but  left  them  to  the  decision  of 
the  President  who  thought  unfavorably  of  him  in  this  regard.  .  .  .21a 

Mr  Buchanan  desired  in  his  own  defense  to  tell  the  truth  con- 
cerning Cass'  desire  to  retract  his  resignation.  Black,  from  loy- 
alty to  Cass,  would  not  give  Buchanan  the  details  unless  Buchanan 
would  remain  silent  about  them.  Buchanan  refused  to  do  this. 
The  President  never  overcame  the  idea  that  Cass  had  treated  him 
shabbily.  When  he  was  requested  to  contribute  something  to 
the  Michigan  statesman's  biography,  Buchanan  replied,  not  with- 
out due  courtesy,  that  he  was  never  associated  with  the  General 
in  his  prime,  and  did  not  feel  qualified  to  write  a  sketch  of  him.22 

21  Curtis,  "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  Vol.  II,  p.  400. 

Rhodes  has  a  different  version  of  this  affair.  Black's  letter  to  Curtis 
(See  19)  was  evidently  unknown  to  him.  It  is  one  of  those  many  instances 
where  he  refused  to  give  Buchanan  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

21a  Henry  Wycliff  to  Buchanan,  Dec.  6,  1858,  H.  S.  P.  Thompson  and 
Holt  also  chided  Cass  with  his  desertion.     See  footnote  22. 

22  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  460. 

Thompson's  Account  (year  uncertain),  as  reported  by  Burr  of  the 
Philadelphia  Press,  March  14,  1884: 
"  Cass  was  one  of  the  best  old  fellows  that  ever  lived,  but  he  loved  his 
ease  and  hated  to  differ  with  any  one.  I  recall  an  interesting  incident  when 
he  resigned.  The  next  morning  he  sent  a  request  that  I  should  call  and  see 
him.  I  went  and  found  the  old  fellow  a  good  deal  disturbed  in  mind.  He 
said  to  me :  '  Thompson  I  want  you  to  see  the  President  for  me.  I  want 
to  recall  my  resignation.     I  believe  I  ought  to  stay  with  the  Administration 


74  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Stanton,  who  was  to  fill  the  vacancy  made  by  Black's  transfer, 
was  a  peculiar  personality. 

He  could  reach  the  heights  of  great  love  of  country,  yet  blend 
this  virtue  with  baseness  to  his  friends  and  contemptible  cruelty 
to  his  foes.  A  nervous  disorder  seems  to  have  existed  in  his  sys- 
tem which,  as  in  the  case  of  skin  disease  in  Peter  the  Great,  gave 
rise  to  wonderful  energy.  A  love  of  power  was  his  mastering 
passion,  nor  was  he  scrupulous  as  to  means  to  obtain  it. 

Prior  to  his  appointment,  Stanton  had  received  many  favors  at 
the  hand  of  Black  who  at  this  time  was  much  attached  to  him.22a 
and  see  it  through  its  trouble.'  '  I  am  glad  to  hear  it.  I  agree  with  you 
exactly.  You  should  stand  by  the  President,'  I  replied.  '  Well,  you  go  and 
see  the  President  in  the  morning  unless  you  should  hear  from  me  in  the 
meantime,'  he  said.  I  promised,  but  before  the  time  arrived  for  me  to  see 
Mr.  Buchanan  and  request  a  withdrawal  of  the  resignation,  Judge  Black 
had  been  appointed,  and  General  Cass  sent  me  word  that  he  would  let  it 
stand." 

Buchanan  wrote  Toucey  that  "  on  December  17,  i860,  both  Mr.  Thompson 
and  Judge  Black  informed  that  they  had  held  conversation  with  General 
Cass  on  the  subject  of  his  resignation."  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  600,  answered 
on  p.  621. 

See  text  above. 

Judge  Holt  to  Burr,  of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  1881 : 

"  I  reasoned  with  him  after  I  knew  of  his  determination,  and  reasoned 
with  him  against  his  act.  He  said :  '  Holt,  you  are  a  Southern  man,  and 
represent  a  very  different  constituency  from  mine.  You  can  stay,  but  I 
cannot,  for  the  sentiment  of  my  section  will  not  sustain  me.'  I  reasoned  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  every  man  who  was  loyal  to  the  Union  to  stay  and  do  his 
best  to  save  the  Union." 

A  letter  written  to  Black  some  time  in  i860  by  a  Mr.  Shunk,  perhaps  his 
son-in-law,  gave  him  a  good  warning  which  he  did  not  heed.  It  read  as 
follows : 

"  You  may  depend  upon  it  that  Stanton  is  not  a  perfectly  fair  man.  Don't 
start.  I  have  made  up  my  mind  upon  that  point  not  hastily  or  rashly  but 
upon  sufficient  evidence.  Mr.  Randolph  is  one  of  my  authorities.  He  has 
promised  to  show  me  letters  from  Stanton  to  him  in  which  Mr.  S.  tells  him 
that  he  has  no  influence  upon  you  whatever — that  he  is  not  upon  intimate 
terms  with  you  and  that  in  California  matters  you  don't  consult  him  at  all. 
.  .  .  You  may  rely  on  it  that  he  has  not  done  the  fair  thing  with  you.  He 
has  suffered  you  to  bear  all  the  odium  of  any  disagreeable  things  you  may 
have  done  even  at  his  suggestion  by  representing  that  he  was  not  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  you." — Black  Papers,  L.  C. 

22a  "  Stanton  we  all  know  was  a  tree  of  his  own  planting  around  whose 
infant  roots  a  good  deal  of  Federal  comfort  in  the  way  of  fees  were  laid." 
Baltimore  Gazette,  July  9,  1878. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  75 

He  was  also  on  terms  of  personal  friendship  with  Buchanan. 
Before  his  Cabinet  appointment  he  had  been  employed  under 
the  direction  of  Black  in  contesting  California  land  grants  upon 
the  behalf  of  the  United  States  Government.  When  Aaron  V. 
Brown,  Postmaster-General,  died,  Black  had  urged  Stanton  on 
Buchanan  as  Postmaster-General,  but  Thompson  was  more  suc- 
cessful, and  Holt  was  appointed. 

The  reason  for  his  appointment  was  that  Black 23  had  had 
some  legal  business  before  the  Supreme  Court  with  Stanton,  and 
desired  to  have  a  personal  friend  in  the  Attorney  General's  De- 
partment.24 Black  was  very  fond  of  Stanton  at  this  time,  but 
later  became  his  bitter  opponent. 

In  later  life  Stanton  said  that  Buchanan  had  asked  his  opinion 
before  writing  the  message  of  December,  i86o.24a  Stanton 
claimed  that  he  had  convinced  the  President  of  the  right  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  coerce  a  State.25  Black  said  that  it  was 
all  a  lie.  The  best  reason  he  gave  was  that  Stanton  approved  of 
Black's  memorandum  of  i860  to  the  President,  which  is  known 
to  have  been  an  entirely  different  opinion.26  It  is  probably  true 
that  Stanton  interviewed  Buchanan  on  this  subject,  but  the  result 
upon  Buchanan  was  far  from  Stanton's  view  of  the  matter  be- 
cause Buchanan  wrote  his  niece  long  before  the  controversy  arose 
that  Stanton  knew  little  constitutional  law.27  Buchanan  was  in- 
clined to  under-rate  rather  than  over-rate  Stanton's  ability. 

In  1862  Thurlow  Weed  published  an  exaggerated  report  of  this 
Cabinet  scene  28  in  which  it  would  seem  that  the  Cabinet  had  de- 
liberately insulted  Buchanan  by  peremptorily  handing  in  their 
resignations  because  he  was  inclined  to  send  Anderson  back  to 
Moultrie.  Stanton  seems  to  have  made  the  most  of  it  among  his 
Republican  friends,  but  he  admitted  it  was  exaggerated  though 
"  substantially  correct."     Weed's  article  was  not  only  exaggerated, 

23  Black,  "  Black's  Works,"  p.  269. 

24  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  247. 

24a  See  preparation  of  the  message  below. 

26  See  Henry  Wilson,  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  XXV,  p.  236;  Vol.  XXVI, 
pp.  468,  469. 

26  Black,  "  Black's  Works,"  pp.  275-276. 

27  Curtis,  "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  Vol.  II,  p.  522. 

28  Curtis,  "Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  Vol.  II,  p.  519. 


76  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

but  his  data  was  incorrect  as  he  included  Dix,29  who  was  not  in 
the  Cabinet  at  that  time,  as  among  the  members.  No  member  of 
the  Northern  group  ever  spoke  to  the  President  at  this  time  di- 
rectly about  resigning  save  Black,  and  perhaps  Toucey  (See 
below). 

Weed  was  not  entirely  to  blame,  for  he  received  the  news 
thirdhand,30  and  only  wrote  what  he  heard.  On  the  other  hand 
he  was  the  paid  agent  of  the  Government,  and  used  his  material 
without  inquiry  to  injure  an  old  enemy.  Upon  such  matters  Bu- 
chanan was  altogether  too  thin-skinned,  and  he  was  much  of- 
fended by  the  incident.  He  said  he  could  have  ignored  it  in 
America,  but  he  was  very  sensitive  about  his  reputation  in  Eng- 
land. 

As  there  will  be  occasion  to  discuss  this  note  later,  the  sole 
question  that  here  arises  is  whether  or  not  Stanton  deliberately 
insulted  the  President.  Black  emphatically  said  that  such  was 
not  the  case.31  When  the  President  asked  the  opinion  of  his 
Cabinet  upon  the  question  of  ordering  Anderson  back  to  Fort 
Moultrie,  Stanton  replied  that  anyone  who  participated  in  such  an 
event  would  be  hanged  like  Andre,  and  a  President  of  the  United 
States  who  would  make  such  an  order  would  be  guilty  of  trea- 
son.32 This  was  strong  language,  but  it  was  clothed  with  proper 
decency,  and  not  spoken  directly  at  Buchanan. 

Black,  at  an  earlier  date,  had  said  that  no  minister  of  England 
ever  urged  his  sovereign  to  relinquish  a  post  capable  of  being  de- 
fended without  being  brought  to  the  block.  Buchanan  had 
thought  Black's  expression  a  harsh  one,  but  did  not  deny  it. 
Buchanan  had  never  at  the  time  or  later  believed  that  Stanton 
had  intended  to  insult  him,  although  he  was  rather  hurt  at  the 
matter  as  will  appear  later.  Holt  says  Buchanan  answered,  "  Oh, 
no !  Not  so  bad  as  that,  my  friend, — not  so  bad  as  that !  "  and 
raised  his  hands  depreciatingly  at  Stanton's  remarks. 

29  For  the  story  and  Dix'  refutation  see :  Morgan  Dix,  "  Memoirs  of 
John  A.  Dix,"  New  York,  1883,  Vol.  I,  pp.  37&-380. 

30  Curtis,  "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  520-521. 
si  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  266. 

32  Gorham,  "  Edwin  M.  Stanton,"  Vol.  I,  p.  158.  For  a  slightly  different 
version  see :  F.  A.  Flower,  "  Stanton,  the  Autocrat  of  the  Rebellion,"  New 
York,  1905,  p.  95. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  77 

This  was  Stanton's  first  "  official "  appearance  in  the  Cabinet. 
Had  Buchanan  believed  Stanton  intended  to  be  discourteous,  he 
would  have  discharged  him  at  once;  and  Black,  who  loved  Bu- 
chanan as  a  brother,  would  have  applauded  his  action.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  in  his  statement  of  the  case,  which  has  been  given 
in  Flower's  biography  33  and  has  been  set  forth  above,  and  which 
he  had  prepared,  but  did  not  give  to  the  public,  Stanton  neglected 
the  aftermath  of  the  incident. 

Thomas,  who  remained  a  Democrat  to  the  last,  and  who  was 
personally  more  or  less  indifferent  to  Buchanan,  supplies  the  miss- 
ing data  and  dispassionately  reviews  the  incident.  In  answer  to 
the  question,  "  Were  the  Cabinet  meetings  of  those  days  har- 
monious ?  "   he  replied : 

"  Naturally  there  was  more  or  less  feeling  displayed  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  Southern  question.  Floyd  at  times  got  quite 
boisterous.  I  shall  call  to  mind  one  occasion  especially  when  the 
President  chided  both  Black  and  Stanton  for  some  remarks  cal- 
culated to  provoke  heated  discussion.  Judge  Black  had  said  that 
there  never  was  a  time  when  a  Cabinet  Officer  could  propose  to 
give  up  a  Fort  capable  of  being  defended  without  being  brought 
to  the  block.  Floyd  got  very  excited  at  this,  and  Buchanan 
thought  the  expression  a  very  harsh  one  and  rather  took  the 
Judge  to  task  for  making  such  positive  expressions,  likely  to  stir 
up  discussions.  Then  turning  to  Mr.  Stanton  he  called  his  atten- 
tion to  some  vigorous  remark  some  days  before  in  relation  to 
Southern  affairs,  and  expressed  his  emphatic  disapproval  of  such 
harsh  expressions.  Indeed  he  spoke  very  sharply  to  Stanton,  but 
he  took  it  without  reply.  Indeed  Mr.  Stanton  had  very  little  to 
say  during  those  days  rather  seeming  to  stand  behind  Judge  Black 
who  was  his  friend."  34 

The  idea  of  Stanton's  great  influence  is  partly  due  to  the  fact 
that  Buchanan's  policy  seemed  to  change  somewhat  about  the 
time  Stanton  entered  the  cabinet ;  and  because  of  eulogies  heaped 
upon  Stanton  by  Henry  Wilson,  Senator  Hoar,  Flower,  and 
others.  Even  Stanton's  tempered  biographer  accepts  that  theory. 
There  is  a  statement  by  Secretary  Thompson  which  would  seem 

33  Flower,  "  Stanton,  the  Autocrat  of  the  Rebellion,"  p.  95,  for  a  digested 
account.  Flower  is  an  ardent  admirer  of  Stanton  and  very  anti-Southern 
in  feeling. 

^Philadelphia  Press,  August  14,  1881. 


78  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

to  credit  such  an  idea  but  the  whole  theory  is  based  upon  the 
fallacy  of  false  cause.35' 36 

The  change  in  Buchanan's  tactics  was  due  to  Anderson's  inter- 
ference with  his  policy;  the  inflamed  condition  of  the  Northern 
public  press ;  to  an  increasing  distrust  of  the  South  and  their  ac- 
cusing him  of  breaking  a  pledge,  and  to  the  councils  of  Judge 
Black,  who  felt  that  he  would  have  to  withdraw  from  the  cabinet. 
Thompson  did  not  know  of  this  interview,  therefore  he  thought 
the  change  was  due  to  Stanton. 

It  was  not  Stanton,  but  Black,  who  presented  the  objections  to 
his  note  to  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners  to  Buchanan. 

Stanton,  speaking  of  it,  said : 37 

"  Judge  Black  is  closer  to  the  President  than  myself  and  exer- 
cises a  great  deal  of  influence  over  him.  He  will  present  the 
written  objections  which  I  have  prepared  37a  and  stand  by  for  the 
purpose  of  extricating  the  President  from  his  present  peril." 

Stanton's  influence  with  Black  no  doubt  was  a  considerable 
factor,  but  Buchanan  considered  him  too  rash  and  impulsive  a 
councilor  and  Buchanan  detested  rash  council. 

In  1862  Buchanan  said  the  course  of  his  ministers  was  without 
parallel.  However,  in  the  heated  condition  of  the  public  mind  at 
that  time,  such  course  was  only  prudent,  as  a  denial  would  not 
have  been  believed  by  anybody.38 

In  the  main  Stanton's  attitude  was  agreeable  and  as  deferential 
as  Buchanan  and  Black  had  said.39     He  showed  the  same  trait 

35  Gorham,  "  Edwin  M.  Stanton,"  Boston,  1899,  Vol.  I,  p.  189. 

36  A.  H.  A.,  1911,  Vol.  II,  p.  532;  Thompson  to  Cobb,  January  6,  i860. 

37  Stanton  to  Robinson  of  Pittsburgh,  December  30,  i860;  Flower,  "  Stan- 
ton, the  Autocrat  of  the  Rebellion,"  pp.  90,  91. 

This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  a  short  time  before,  Black,  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  Thompson,  had  his  interview  with  Buchanan,  Stanton  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet. 

37a  Black,  not  Stanton,  wrote  the  first  copy. 

38  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  263. 

39  "  Perhaps  no  calumny  that  was  uttered  against  him  hurt  his  feelings  or 
injured  his  character  more  than  that  by  which  he  was  represented  as  being 
bullied  and  dragooned  by  Stanton  and  others.  Stanton  never  but  once  ven- 
tured beyond  the  line  of  mere  obsequiousness  and  then  was  driven  back  to 
his  place  cowering  under  the  lash  of  the  President's  reprimand." — Philadel- 
phia Press,  August  21,  1881. 

This  is  practically  the  same  statement  as  made  by  Thomas. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  79 

when  Schofield  40  came  to  take  over  his  office  at  Johnson's  order. 
Stanton  was  never  a  brave  man  when  he  felt  the  ground  slipping 
under  his  feet.  It  is  certain  that  he  tried  Lincoln's  patience  more 
than  Buchanan's  because  he  had  greatly  swelled  out  with  his  suc- 
cess at  running  the  Union  war  machine.41  At  times  he  behaved 
like  a  Nero. 

He  did  not  put  on  high  manners  in  the  Cabinet.42  He  loved 
power  but  was  not  yet  sure  of  himself.  When  Stanton  feared 
dethronement  he  always  resorted  to  flattery.43  Long  before  the 
Weed  letter  was  known,  Buchanan  had  written  to  his  niece  com- 
menting upon  Stanton : 

i 

He  never  took  much  part  in  cabinet  councils,  because  his  office 
did  not  require  it.  He  was  always  on  my  side  and  flattered  me 
ad  nauseam.44 

Moreover,  Buchanan  was  not  particularly  favorable  towards 
Stanton  at  first,  but  seemed  to  have  liked  him  better  as  time  went 
on.  Blaine  wisely  observes  that  if  Stanton  had  possessed  the  in- 
fluence he  claimed,  Buchanan  would  have  vetoed  the  Morrill 
Tariff  Bill,  which  Stanton  opposed.45 

In  his  letters  to  Buchanan,  Stanton,  before  he  became  Secretary 
of  War,  displays  all  due  respect  for  his  chief,  but  some  of  these 
letters  were  so  indecent  in  condemnation  of  Lincoln  that  Bu- 
chanan's relatives  courteously  kept  the  worst  ones  out  of  print.46 

Stanton  had  intrigued  with  Sumner  and  Seward  officially  for 
the  "  safety  of  the  Union,"  but,  in  the  minds  of  others,  his  object 
was  to  get  office  under  the  Republicans.  The  failure  of  "  Old 
Abe  "  to  appoint  him  was  doubtless  the  cause  of  his  bitterness. 
Upon  his  appointment  to  the  War  Office,  Stanton  began  to  turn, 
and  later  poured  out  similar  torrents  of  abuse  upon  his  old  Demo- 

40  Poore,  "  Perley's  Reminiscences,"  Vol.  II,  p.  230. 

41  A.  K.  McClure,  "  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,"  pp.  170-173. 

42  Black,  "  Black's  Works,"  p.  273. 

43  Poore,  "  Perley's  Reminiscences,"  Vol.  II,  p.  230. 

44  Moore,  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  523.  By  this  he  meant  he  was  for  upholding 
his  prerogative.  This  was  probably  a  private  letter  and  could  not  have  been 
intended  for  public  use.     Buchanan  had  no  idea  of  what  was  coming. 

45  Blaine,  "  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  Vol.  I,  p.  562. 

48  McClure,  "  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,"  pp.  157,  158. 


80  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

cratic  friends.  He  utterly  lacked  self-control  but  never  suffered 
much  for  it.  He  was  honest,  and  too  able  for  Lincoln  to  dis- 
charge. Lincoln  patiently  endured  his  contemptible  meanness. 
Flower  glories  in  the  indications  of  the  fact  that  Stanton  aided  in 
getting  ready  to  impeach  Buchanan  if  he  disapproved  of  his 
policy. 

When  Stanton  encountered  Andrew  Johnson,  he  found  a  man 
who  had  an  energetic  tongue  as  himself,  and  the  same  disposition 
to  use  it.  The  result  was  that,  despite  all  his  writhing  and  a  great 
deal  of  partisan  support,  he  came  to  a  well-merited  downfall. 

The  conclusion  is  that  Stanton  had  but  little  influence  with  the 
President,  but  that  he  proved  of  aid  to  Black's  views  in  cabinet 
discussions.  Public  honesty,  love  of  country,  and  ability  are  the 
bright  side  of  the  picture,  but  he  also  showed  extreme  and  dan- 
gerous duplicity  to  those  he  served.  He  was  the  type  of  man  who 
is  to  be  avoided,  or  at  least  not  treated  with  confidence. 

It  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  history  that  Holt  seems  to  have 
received  his  first  major  appointment  from  a  man  whom  he  later 
ceaselessly  pursued  with  a  malignant  hatred.  Aaron  V.  Brown 
(Tennessee),  Postmaster-General,  died  in  1857.  Buchanan,  ac- 
cording to  Thompson,  said : 

"  I  want  a  man  for  the  Postoffice  Department  who  has  no  heart. 
Brown  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  but  he  was  altogether  too  good- 
natured  to  withstand  the  appeals  and  intrigues  of  the  people  who 
had  business  with  his  Department,  and  things  want  to  be  straight- 
ened out  down  there.  It  will  take  a  strong,  resolute  man,  with 
none  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  in  his  veins,  to  do  the  work." 

"  I  have  got  just  the  man  for  the  place  in  my  Department,"  said 
Mr.  Thompson.     "  He  will  fill  the  bill  exactly." 

"  Who  is  it  ?  "  asked  two  or  three  members  of  the  Cabinet  in 
the  same  breath. 

"  Joe  Holt,"  Thompson  replied.47 

There  was  a  laugh  all  around.  Black  brought  up  Stanton's 
name,  and  for  several  days  a  contest  ensued,  with  the  final  result 
that  Holt  was  appointed. 

Holt  furiously  repudiated  the  above  statement,  and  claimed  his 
appointment  was  due  to  some  personal  services  which,  unknown 

47  Philadelphia  Press,  probably  March  4,  1884. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  81 

to  Thompson,  had  brought  him  to  the  President's   attention.48 
Probably  both  men  were  partially  correct. 

Holt  did  some  vigorous  work  in  the  Postoffice  Department. 
Three  famous  dismissals  were  Westcott  of  Philadelphia,  Fowler 
of  New  York,  and  Cook  of  Chicago.  From  the  start  he  filled  the 
bill.  While  he  disclaimed  any  disagreement  in  later  years  when 
he  had  become  rabidly  anti-Southern,  Holt  seems  to  have  been 
more  favorable  to  Buchanan's  policy  than  Black  or  Stanton.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  had  become  so  disliked  and  feared  in  Southern 
circles,  that  when  his  nomination  was  sent  to  the  Senate  to  succeed 
Floyd  as  Secretary  of  War,  Slidell  and  other  Senators  left  no 
stone  unturned  to  secure  its  defeat.  Southern  papers  49  said  that 
Buchanan  was  going  over  to  the  Coercionists.  Holt's  brother 
disapproved  of  any  violent  measure,  and  begged  Holt  to  come 
away  before  war  started.50  Holt's  agreement  with  Buchanan's 
policy  was  repeatedly  and  vigorously  expressed  upon  various  oc- 
casions.    One  is  as  follows : 

I  wish  distinctly  to  say  that  I  believe  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  all 
respects  and  at  all  times  true  to  the  union.  He  believed  and  so 
did  I,  that  a  war  during  his  administration,  especially  if  we  began 
it,  would  result  in  the  destruction  of  the  Union.  It  was  his  policy 
to  preserve  the  peace  if  possible  and  hand  over  the  Government 
intact  to  his  successor.  Mr.  Stanton,  Judge  Black,  and  myself 
differed  at  times  with  him  as  to  the  best  way  to  do  this,  but  we 
were  agreed  that  it  must  be  done. 

It  was  Holt  who  figured  in  the  severing  of  friendly  relations 
between  Buchanan  and  Slidell.  Slidell  had  secured  the  appoint- 
ment of  his  brother-in-law,  Beauregard,  to  promotion  over  five  or 
six  other  officers.  Holt  annulled  the  promotion  and  Slidell  wrote 
a  note  to  Buchanan,  desiring  to  know  whether  he  was  responsible 
for  Holt's  action.  Buchanan  upon  receiving  the  letter  handed  it 
to  Holt  and  said,  "  Read  this."  Holt  wrathfully  replied,  "  Mr. 
President,  we  have  heard  this  crack  of  the  overseer's  whip  over 
our  heads  long  enough.  This  is  an  outrage, — it  is  one  that 
Senator  Slidell  has  no  right  to  address  you."     "  I  think  so  myself 

48  Pamphlet  of  Holt  against  Thompson,  pp.  8-9,  L.  C. 

49  E.g.,  Richmond  Enquirer,  January  5,  1861. 

50  Holt  to  Holt,  Yazoo  City,  January  10,  1861,  L.  C. 


82  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

and  will  write  him  to  that  effect,"  the  President  answered.  "  No," 
said  Holt,  "  I  feel  that  I  have  a  right,  Mr.  President,  to  ask  that 
you  do  more  than  this ;  that  you  will  say  to  Senator  Slidell  with- 
out explanation  that  this  is  your  act ;  for  you  know  that  as  Secre- 
tary of  War  I  am  simply  your  representative,  and  if  my  acts  as 
such  are  not  your  acts,  then  they  are  nothing." 

The  President  agreed,  and  wrote  on  the  spot  a  reply  in  which 
he  informed  Slidell  that  Holt's  "  acts  in  the  line  of  his  duty  are 
my  own  acts,  for  which  I  am  responsible." 

Buchanan  and  Holt  were  warm  friends  at  the  close  of  the  Ad- 
ministration. Buchanan  said  warmly,  "  Holt,  you  have  been 
true."     "  I  have  tried  to  be,"  was  the  response.52' 53 

He  also  wrote  an  excellent  testimony  in  his  official  letter  of 
resignation,  which  Buchanan  deeply  appreciated.  Later  Buchanan 
felt  somewhat  estranged  due  to  a  speech  in  which  he  thought  Holt 
praised  Stanton  too  highly,  and  again,  when  some  time  after- 
ward, he  accepted  a  Republican  position.  No  doubt  Holt  had 
the  Weed  story  in  mind,  and  the  fact  that  he  had  been  silent  in 
1863,  when  in  1881  he  said: 

I  never  had  a  doubt  but  that  at  some  time  justice  would  be 
done  him  and  his  Administration.  It  could  not  be  done  in  the 
heat  of  war  which  followed  it.  No  man's  word  in  its  behalf,  no 
matter  how  prominent  his  loyalty,  would  have  been  accepted  or 
his  motives  understood.54 

The  quarrel  between  Holt  and  Thompson  was  long  and  bitter. 
Holt  was  exceedingly  vindictive.  Dix  and  Black  said  to  each 
other  that  Thompson  and  Holt  were  both  good  men,  and  they 
hoped  it  would  cease. 

When  Holt  was  made  Secretary  of  War,  Horatio  King,  who 
had  survived  the  Silliman  letter  episode,  was  elevated  from  the 
place  of   First  Assistant  to  Postmaster-General.54a     During  the 

51  Crawford,  S.  W.,  "  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,"  p.  276.  Crawford  says 
it  was  a  place  at  West  Point.  Holt  in  the  Philadelphia  Press  in  1881  says 
promotion.  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  p.  57,  gives  the  letter.  West 
Point  is  mentioned. 

52  Philadelphia  Press,  August,  1881,  H.  S.  P. 

53  Also  Holt  Pamphlet,  1861,  L.  C. 

54  Philadelphia  Press,  1881,  H.  S.  P. 

54a  King  was  appointed  acting  Postmaster-General,  January  1,  1861 ;  he 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  S3 

early  part  of  December  he  had  busied  himself  in  getting  people  of 
Northern  sentiments  to  bombard  the  Administration  with  letters,55 
and  had  devoted  himself  to  trying  to  persuade  the  President  to 
still  the  voice  of  the  Constitution,  which  was  going  over  to  Seces- 
sion, although  it  was  still  supposed  to  be  the  organ  of  the  Ad- 
ministration. 

Buchanan  probably  did  not  desire  to  be  accused  of  suppressing 
a  publication  solely  because  of  its  political  views.  The  paper 
increased  in  volume  of  its  tone,  and  he  finally  wrote  the  editor  a 
private  letter  requesting  him  to  state  that  its  opinions  were  not 
his  own.  The  editor  immediately  complied  with  the  request  with 
a  statement  in  his  paper  (December  27,  i860).  In  January  the 
President  finally  felt  justified  in  rescinding  the  Government  ad- 
vertising in  the  Constitution's  columns,  and  this  fact,  and  its  fall- 
ing off  in  circulation  soon  caused  its  death. 

King  was  one  of  the  few  members  of  a  department  to  be  pro- 
moted to  its  head.  He  fulfilled  his  duties  very  acceptably,  but 
does  not  seem  to  have  enjoyed  much  of  Buchanan's  confidence 
until  after  his  term  was  over,  when  he  helped  the  ex-President 
gather  some  of  the  material  for  his  book.56  During  the  Civil 
War  some  of  the  old  Cabinet  received  favors  under  the  new 
regime.  King  accepted  a  position  in  the  Bureau  fixing  the  value 
of  freed  slaves.  This  political  apostasy  mortified  Buchanan  some- 
what, but  he  was  too  kind-hearted  to  pass  any  censure  on  King. 

King  had  journalistic  talent,  and  even  took  a  hand  at  writing 
poetry.  He  collected  some  of  his  articles  in  a  book  "  Turning  on 
the  Light,"  published  in  1895.  Many  of  the  articles  contain 
valuable  primary  material,  and  testify  to  the  fine  traits  of  Bu- 
chanan's character. 

His  anti-Southern  views,  which  increased  as  years  went  on, 
spoiled  much  of  his  work.  His  later  article  calling  Toucey  a 
Secessionist  is  incorrect  in  its  charge,  to  say  the  least.  He  also 
gave  some  wrong  impressions  on  the  state  of  Buchanan's  health, 

was  nominated  by  the  President  on  the  1st  of  February;  and  confirmed  by 
the  Senate  in  the  appointment  on  the  12th  of  February.  King,  "  Turning 
on  the  Light,"  p.  14. 

55  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  Chapter  I. 

06  See  letters  in  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  from  King  to  Buchanan. 


84  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

and  the  reasons  for  Floyd's  and  Cobb's  resignations.57  His  book, 
however,  served  a  real  need,  and,  notwithstanding  some  errors,  is 
a  valuable  one  of  the  period. 

Few  persons  have  suffered  more  from  historical  injustice  than 
Isaac  Toucey,  Buchanan's  Secretary  of  Navy.  An  attempt  will 
be  made  to  recount  his  relations  with  Buchanan  at  the  close  of  the 
Administration  and  to  dispel  some  popular  delusions  that  have 
been  propagated  to  his  detriment. 

There  are  three  erroneous  impressions  concerning  Toucey's 
policy  at  this  period :  the  first,  that  he  was  a  Secessionist ;  the  sec- 
ond, that  he  deliberately  scattered  the  fleet  at  this  juncture ;  and  the 
third,  that  he  was  a  colorless,  negative  sort  of  individual. 

57  Pamphlet  by  King  privately  published,  New  York,   1894. 

Holt's  Changes  of  Mind : 

The  following  excerpt  shows  Holt's  attitude  on  the  date  mentioned: 

"  I  am  still  for  the  Union  because  I  have  yet  a  faint  hesitating  hope  that 
the  North  will  do  justice  to  the  South  and  save  the  Republic  before  the 
wreck  is  complete.  But  action  to  be  available  must  be  prompt."  From 
Robert  Gourdin,  quoting  a  letter  of  Holt,  November  30,  i860,  letter  of 
Gourdin,  January  27,  1861,  L.  C. 

On  the  14th  of  March  he  wrote  Buchanan  that  the  new  administration 
seemed  to  be  pacific  and  was  pleased  with  the  idea.  See  Moore,  Vol.  XI, 
pp.  167,  168. 

On  May  24th  he  declared  that  Buchanan  made  a  mistake  in  not  sending 
troops  to  Sumter.  He  was  much  opposed  to  the  South  at  this  time.  See 
Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  196,  197. 

But  in  1881  he  said :  "  I  am  convinced  that  the  feeling  that  they  first  fired 
upon  the  flag  aroused  our  people  to  a  point  of  enthusiasm  which  carried 
us  through  the  war."     See  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  p.  121. 

"  But  when  you  take  into  consideration  the  conspicuous  party  divisions, 
the  peaceful  inclination  of  our  people,  and  the  attitude  of  Congress,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  those  acts  of  conciliation  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
and  its  officers  at  the  time  were  wisest  and  best."  Philadelphia  Press,  Au- 
gust, 1881. 

The  following  statement  was  made  over  the  removal  of  Post-master 
Cook  in  Chicago : 

"I  shall  moreover  never  for  a  moment  place  my  judgment  or  wishes  in 
conflict  with  yours,  to  which  it  is  my  pleasure  to  defer."  Holt  to  Bu- 
chanan, December  6,  1859. 

Buchanan  believed  Cook  had  been  framed,  and  was  inclined  to  sustain  him. 
Later,  however,  he  was  allowed  to  resign  as  his  conduct  seemed  to  have 
been  irregular.  It  shows  who  was  the  President  in  fact  as  well  as  name. 
Holt  was  one  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  cabinet. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  85 

Toucey  was  one  of  the  ablest  constitutional  lawyers  of  his  day. 
He  had  been  Attorney-General  for  a  time  under  Polk.  His  repu- 
tation as  a  legalist  was  among  the  first  in  his  State.  Unlike  the 
rest  of  the  Cabinet,  save  Cass,  he  was  a  man  of  somewhere  near 
Buchanan's  age,  and  like  him  held  views  characteristic  of  the 
period  that  was  drawing  to  a  close. 

Toucey  was  not  a  Secessionist.  When  Buchanan's  first  mes- 
sage (December  3,  i860)  came  up  before  the  Cabinet,  Floyd's 
diary  58  states  that  Toucey  approved  it  while  the  Southern  mem- 
bers opposed  it  on  the  Secession  issue.  He  alone  endorsed  Bu- 
chanan's first  draft  to  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners,59  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  oppose  Stanton  in  the  matter,  a  fact  that  Stan- 
ton took  pains  to  remember  by  vilifying  his  name  at  a  later  date.60 
When  Buchanan  declined  to  move  Anderson  back  to  Moultrie 
upon  Hunter's  request,  Toucey  again  endorsed  Buchanan's  stand 
as  the  only  thing  possible  under  the  circumstances.61  The  very 
fact  that  Toucey  supported  the  President,  who  all  the  while  op- 
posed the  constitutional  right  of  Secession,  is  evidence  enough. 

Black  did  not  like  it  because  Toucey  seemed  disinclined  to  "  go 
crosswise"  of  the  President,62  but  Toucey  had  no  reason  for 
doing  so.  Black  also  was  angry  because  he  thought  Toucey  told 
Buchanan  the  Brooklyn  could  not  clear  the  bar  at  Charleston. 
Hence  the  idea  he  gave  that  Toucey  was  indifferent.63 

The  error  regarding  Toucey's  scattering  of  the  fleet  was  prob- 
ably based  on  a  very  partisan  congressional  report,  which  was 
characteristic  of  the  Republicans  at  that  period,  before  he  left 
office.  Later  Toucey  himself  was  called  to  testify  before  another 
committee,  where  he  handed  some  very  hot  shots  to  Congress. 
He  showed  that  the  home  squadron  was  unusually  large  at  the 
time  as  compared  with  some  previous  periods.  He  had  desired 
converting  some  of  the  ships  into  steam  frigates.  As  to  the  ships 
out  of  repair,  he  had  notified  Congress  of  the  fact;  Congress, 

58  Pollard,  "  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  p.  794. 
69  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  149. 

60  Gideon  Wells,  Diary,  Vol.  II,  pp.  272,  273. 

61  Crawford,  "Fort  Sumter,"  p.  159;  Trescott  to  Cobb,  January  14,  1861 ; 
A.  H.  A.,  1916,  pp.  529,  530. 

62  Philadelphia  Press,  1881. 

63  Black  to  Buchanan,  January  19,  1861 ;  Black  Papers,  1861-1862.     L.  C. 


86  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

however,  had  not  only  paid  no  heed,  but  had  seen  fit  to  cut  the 
appropriations  of  the  Department.64 

Although  a  rather  taciturn  man,  Toucey  had  plenty  of  spirit. 
The  following  letter  is  a  vigorous  statement  of  his  political  faith 
and  indicates  a  vigorous  character.  The  matter  of  Fort  Pickens 
is  thoroughly  discussed. 

Ex-Gov.  Toucey  to  Buchanan,  June  5,  1861 : 

My  dear  Sir  : 

I  find  myself  obliged  at  last  to  reply  to  your  very  welcome  letter 
without  being  able  to  give  a  copy  of  the  joint  Order  which  Mr. 
Holt  &  myself  sent  to  the  military  &  naval  forces  near  Pensacola. 
It  was  prepared  as  I  understood  by  Mr.  Holt  upon  consultation 
with  General  Scott  &  with  his  full  concurrence,  &  sent  to  the 
Navy  Dept.,  where  I  certainly  concurred  in  it  &  affixed  to  it  my 
official  signature.  I  have  written  to  the  present  Sec.  of  the  Navy 
for  a  copy  but  get  no  answer.  I  recollect  very  well  the  object  & 
purport  of  it.  It  was  issued  during  the  session  of  the  Peace 
Convention  at  Washington  to  prevent  a  collision  &  to  hold  things 
for  the  time  being  in  statu  quo.  The  troops  on  board  the  Brooklyn 
were  not  for  the  present  to  be  landed  nor  any  aggressive  move- 
ment to  be  made,  if  the  troops  on  the  other  side  abstained  from 
any  attack  &  from  any  further  preparation  for  attack.  The 
Order  was  a  very  stringent  one  against  any  hostile  movement  or 
preparation  by  the  Secessionists  and  required  in  that  event  the 
most  prompt  &  vigorous  action  by  the  U.  S.  forces.  Mr.  Holt 
undoubtedly  has  a  copy  of  it.  I  shall  hereafter  send  you  one  if 
I  can  obtain  it. 

The  naval  force  assembled  at  Pensacola  under  yr.  Admn.  con- 
sisted of  the  Steam  Ship  Brooklyn,  the  frigate  Sabine,  the  sloop 
of  War  Macedonia,  the  Steamer  Wyandotte,  &  for  a  time  the 

64  Senate  Reports,  37th  Congress,  2d  session,  No.  37,  pp.  58,  59,  234. 

For  the  account  of  the  Toucey- Ward  expedition  prepared  to  relieve  Sum- 
ter, see  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  621. 

The  committee  had  to  satisfy  itself  by  criticising  Toucey  for  allowing 
certain  officers  to  resign  who  later  joined  the  confederates.  The  same  thing 
happened  in  England  during  the  Ulster  troubles  when  British  officers  re- 
signed rather  than  fight  their  own  people  and  who  no  doubt  would  have  de- 
fended Ulster  had  she  been  attacked,  yet  no  serious  criticism  was  made 
against  them.  England  is  still  the  home  of  much  honest  common  sense. 
The  Minority  Report  said  no  evidence  proved  that  Toucey  knew  of  the 
future  intent  of  those  officers. 

Senate  Reports,  37th  Congress,  2d  session,  No.  87,  p.  13,  et  seq. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  87 

sloop  of  War  St.  Louis.  Without  including  the  troops  on  board 
the  Brooklyn,  this  Squadron  cd.  have  thrown  a  re-inf  orcement  of 
six  or  seven  hundred  men  into  Fort  Pickens  at  any  time.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  discover  that  any  additional  force  has  been  sent 
there.  The  only  list  I  have  seen,  one  recently  published,  compre- 
hended no  more.  There  was  never  any  difficulty  in  re-inforcing 
Fort  Pickens.  This  was  perfectly  well  understood.  However 
all  that  makes  no  difference.  The  re-inforcement  under  this 
Admn.  is  trumpeted  as  a  great  feat,  although  they  have  only  done 
what  we  were  prepared  to  do,  &  enabled  them  to  do,  at  any 
moment. 

I  am  surprised  that  young  Seward  shd.  say  anything  that  might 
be  considered  an  attack  on  the  peace  policy  of  yr.  Admr.  for  I 
called  on  Gov.  Seward  at  the  State  Dept.  soon  after  he  assumed 
its  duties  &  the  tenor  of  his  language  was  altogether  for  peace  & 
conciliation,  &  I  was  as  strongly  impressed  by  it  as  Judge  Camp- 
bell appears  to  have  been  on  another  occasion.  However  we 
ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  anything.  The  present  Federal  Ex- 
ecutive has  cut  loose  from  the  restraints  of  the  Constitution  & 
laws,  &  is  now  carrying  on  without  authority  the  most  disastrous 
war  this  country  was  ever  engaged  in — more  disastrous  than  wd. 
be  a  combined  attack  upon  us  by  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  What 
right  has  a  Pres*.  of  the  U.  S.  to  enlist  for  three  years  an  army 
of  ioo  or  150,000  men  without  the  authority  of  Congress? 
What  right  has  he  to  blockade  half  our  ports  &  to  suspend  our 
commercial  treaties  with  England,  France  &  the  other  countries? 
What  right  has  he  to  disperse  the  militia  of  Missouri  organized 
and  assembled  under  the  laws  of  the  U.  S.  &  of  Missouri  with 
the  flag  of  the  Union  floating  over  them?  What  right  has  he  to 
seize  the  City  of  Alexandria  &  occupy  it  by  force  which  he  had 
no  authority  to  enlist,  to  arrest  citizens  for  alleged  offences 
against  the  laws  &  shut  them  up  in  camp,  proclaim  martial  law  & 
suspend  the  Habeas  Corpus?  What  right  has  he  by  an  order  of 
the  Atty.  Genl.  to  invade  the  sanctity  of  private  correspondence  & 
seize  summarily  and  simultaneously  the  private  papers  of  all  the 
Northern  Telegraph  Offices?  What  right  has  he  without  con- 
sulting Congress  to  plunge  the  country  in  a  hundred  millions  of 
debt  to  be  followed  inevitably  by  an  immensely  larger  one?  The 
public  mind  may  be  paralyzed  momentarily  by  atrocious  usurpa- 
tions, but  they  cannot  pass  unnoticed.  A  day  of  terrible  reckon- 
ing will  certainly  come.  It  wd.  be  a  libel  on  the  whole  history  of 
this  country  to  suppose  that  it  can  settle  down  under  a  military 
depotism. 

I  left  Washington  on  the  26th  of  March  &  went  directly 
home.     I  found  my  friends  ready  to  receive  me.     They  gave  me 


88  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

an  enthusiastic  welcome.  The  Mayor  of  the  City  addressed  me 
&  I  responded.  At  the  General  Election  which  occurred  on  the 
following  Monday,  it  happened  after  a  severe  contest  that  the 
Republicans  in  the  City  &  town  of  Hartford  were  defeated  by 
more  than  500  majority — a  very  gratifying  result.  But  since  that 
time  Fort  Sumter  has  been  cannonaded,  the  pacific  policy  which 
you  inaugurated  which  kept  the  border  states  in  the  Union,  & 
wd.  have  given  the  Union  men  of  the  Cotton  States  the  ascendency 
&  brot  them  back  to  us,  has  been  abandoned,  the  war  policy 
adopted,  &  the  country  precipitated  into  an  abyss  which  no  hu- 
man eye  can  penetrate. 

The  morning  I  left  for  home,  Judge  Black  called  &  spent  an 
hour  with  me.  I  understood  it  was  his  intention  to  continue  in 
Washington.  He  was  still  residing  with  Lt.  Harrison  where  he 
has  been  from  the  time  he  gave  up  his  house  on  Franklin  Square. 
Mrs.  Toucey  wishes  to  be  presented  most  kindly  to  yourself  & 
Miss  Lane.  Will  you  please  present  to  her  my  warmest  regards 
&  attachment 

I  am 

With  the  highest  respect  &  esteem 
most  faithfully 
Your  friend 

I.  Toucey.65 

During  the  war  he  suffered  much  petty  persecution.  At  one 
time  during  the  Civil  War  his  picture  was  taken  from  among  the 
portraits  of  the  Governors  in  the  State  House  at  Hartford,  but 
with  the  subsiding  of  popular  wrath  it  was  restored.  Buchanan 
remarked  that  the  Republicans  were  trying  to  make  a  scapegoat 
of  Toucey.66 

In  the  years  that  followed  his  Presidency,  Buchanan  wrote: 

Our  constant  agreement  in  all  important  measures  is  a  solace 
and  comfort  and  endears  you  to  me  in  a  peculiar  manner.67 

The  following  are  extracts  from  Mrs.  Toucey  to  Buchanan's 
niece,  Harriet  Lane.68 

65  From  Buchanan  Papers,  H.  S.  P. 

66  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  243. 

67  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  587. 

68  Buchanan-Lane  Papers,  L.  C.     October  9,  1862;  June  19,  1863. 
Toucey  placed  the  following  remarks  in  his  official  resignation: 

"  I  have  witnessed  the  indefatigable  industry,  the  disinterested  patriotism 
the  self  sacrificing  devotion,  the  anxious  endeavor  to  be  right  in  all  your 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  89 

You  speak  feelingly  of  our  country's  trouble.  There  is  not  on 
the  page  of  History  a  record  of  madness  and  folly  as  we  have  at 
present.  At  this  age  of  the  world  to  resort  to  arms  for  the  settle- 
ment of  any  difficulty  is  an  evidence  that  we  have  not  so  far 
emerged  from  barbarism  as  we  had  supposed,  and  in  spite  of  our 
boasted  progress  the  moral  advance  has  been  very  slow.  Surely 
President  Buchanan's  policy  was  wise  and  Christian,  and  will  be 
thought  so  by  all  the  world.  One  of  the  painful  consequences  of 
this  cruel  war  is  the  separation  from  Southern  friends.  We  have 
a  lovely  niece,  the  daughter-in-law  of  Gen.  Polk,  who  is  enscounced 
on  a  plantation  somewhere  in  Louisiana  for  whom  we  feel  great 
sympathy  for  so  obnoxious  is  the  family  name,  we  are  unable  to 
address  letters  to  her  nor  she,  nor  any  member  of  Gen.  Polk's 
family  dare  place  their  signature  to  letters  to  us  sent  by  mail.  .  .  . 

Would  that  his  [Buchanan's]  mantle  had  fallen  upon  his  suc- 
cessor &  that  peace  might  have  been  preserved  to  our  .  .  .  har- 
rassed  country. 

The  writer  once  styled  John  B.  Floyd  the  Black  Sheep  of  the 
Cabinet.  Further  search  into  the  sources  have  led  him  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  would  be  more  just  to  call  him  the  scapegoat  of 
Northern  public  opinion. 

Floyd  was  a  man  of  real  personality  and  ability,  save  perhaps 
in  dealing  with  contractors.  He  was  active,  alert,  always  attend- 
ing to  his  duties  except  when  utterly  unable  to  be  about.  The 
administration  of  his  office  force  seems  to  have  been  able.  The 
army  was  kept  in  as  good  state  of  fitness  as  the  funds  would 
allow.  He  was  generous, — too  much  influenced  by  selfish  per- 
sons for  his  own  good.  If  he  was  careless  in  the  giving  of  con- 
tracts or  funds  of  the  Government,  he  was  the  same  in  his  own 
business.  He  was  at  least  an  able  administrator,  except  on  items 
of  finance. 

Letters  have  been  given  in  this  material  which  show  that  Bu- 
chanan never  had  a  more  loyal  or  devoted  member  of  his  Cabinet 
than  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  has  never  been  given  due  credit 
for  strongly  disapproving  of  a  plot  to  kidnap  Buchanan  suggested 
to  him  by  Wigfal.69 

decisions,  and  the  consummate  prudence  and  ability  which  have  marked  your 
entire  course  through  greater  difficulties  than  ever  before  beset  the  path  of 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  country."     Toucey  to  Buchanan. 
69  North  American  Review,  February,  1887,  p.  179. 


90  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

There  are  three  charges  once  believed  about  Floyd,  all  of  which 
have  been  disapproved.  The  charge  that  he  used  his  position  to 
supply  the  South  with  arms ;  that  he  plundered  the  Interior  De- 
partment bonds;  and  that  he  was  a  Secessionist  at  heart.  Even 
a  Congressional  Committee  of  his  opponents  was  forced  to  admit 
that  he  had  not  so  prostituted  his  office.  Even  Mr.  Rhodes  has 
deigned  to  admit  this  fact.  He  did,  in  i860,  act  as  an  agent  of 
some  of  the  Southern  States  to  buy  some  condemned  muskets 
which  were  purchasable  by  any  bidder.  If  any  one  of  the  South- 
ern States  feared  attack  from  any  quarter,  they  certainly  had  a 
right  to  buy  arms  from  any  place  as  a  commercial  transaction. 
Such  an  act  did  not  in  itself  indicate  a  wish  to  break  the  Union.70 
Most  of  the  guns  sold  in  1859  were  so  poor  that  the  State  of 
Louisiana,  which  bought  some,  refused  to  keep  the  contract.  A 
few  small  arms  were  distributed  in  advance,  as  had  often  hap- 
pened before,  in  1861,  but  were  sent  to  Northern  as  well  as  to 
Southern  States.  Others  of  the  Southern  States,  for  fear  of 
negro  revolts,  did  not  ask  for  their  quotas  in  1861  or  several  years 
before  that  time.  In  any  case,  the  amount  was  relatively  of  little 
account.71  Considering  the  things  Floyd  could  have  done  and  did 
not  do,  points  to  much  in  his  favor.72  He  sent  nothing  to  Vir- 
ginia; he  knew  the  efficiency  of  the  Southern  cavalry,  but  sent 
not  a  sabre ;  he  knew  the  Southern  need  of  artillery,  but  sent  not 
a  gun  before  December,  i860.  He  sent  no  ammunition.  By  law 
such  guns  as  were  shipped  were  shipped  on  application  to  the 
Ordnance  Bureau  without  any  special  order  from  the  head  of  the 
Department.73 

On  the  question  of  shipping  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  South, 
Floyd  has  again  been  charged  with  breach  of  trust.  The  oral 
order  was  given  to  Captain  Maynadier  on  October  20,  i860,  be- 
cause Floyd  was  sick  in  bed.     No  great  storm-clouds  had  yet 

70  For  the  "Stolen  Arms"  see:  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  409-417;  King, 
"  Turning  on  the  Light,"  Chapter  XVII ;  Black,  "  Black's  Essays,"  p.  266 
et  seq. 

Black  says  the  South  did  not  get  their  quota  (probably  larger  guns)  in 
i860. 

71  King,  ibid.,  pp.  198-199. 

72  Tyler's  Quarterly,  January,  1921,  p.  155. 

73  Tyler  s  Quarterly,  January,  1921,  p.  155. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  91 

arisen.  There  was  no  special  reason  for  selecting  Pittsburgh 
save  for  convenience.  The  forts  were  not  yet  completed,  but 
precedents  could  be  found  where  guns  had  been  sent  and  mounted 
on  platforms  in  such  cases.  (Floyd's  political  attitude  in  this 
period  will  be  shown  below.)  On  December  20th,  Floyd  gave  a 
final  order  for  shipping  these  cannon.  This  was  at  a  time  when 
things  were  relatively  quiet.  Only  South  Carolina  had  seceded. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  note  whether  Floyd  gave  this  order 
before  he  heard  this  news.  Even  then  Floyd  no  doubt  only 
thought  of  being  prepared  against  unconstitutional  Northern  acts. 
There  was  also  no  reason  to  believe  that  other  States  would  fol- 
low, if  something  were  done  to  compromise  the  difficulties.  The 
cannon  were  not  sent  to  a  firebrand  State.74 

When  the  news  reached  Pittsburgh,  there  was  a  furore.  A 
mass  meeting  was  held  at  which  a  friend  of  Buchanan's,  William 
Wilkins,  and  a  brother-in-law  of  Stanton,  James  A.  Hutchinson, 
took  a  prominent  part.75  These  men  got  into  touch  with  Stan- 
ton, who  went  to  Buchanan  about  it.  Buchanan  saw  nothing  to 
worry  about,  but  he  asked  Black  about  the  orders,  and  referred 
a  telegraph  from  Pittsburgh  to  Floyd  immediately  upon  receiving 
it.76  Black  said  the  orders  were  correct,77  but  privately  advised 
Buchanan  to  rescind  the  order  in  view  of  the  excited  condition 
of  affairs.78 

A  committee  was  sent  up  to  Washington  from  Pittsburgh  in- 
cluding Hutchinson.  Stanton  and  the  delegation  saw  the  Presi- 
dent. He  consulted  with  Holt  and  as  a  result  gave  orders  to 
revoke  the  shipment.79  Hutchinson  telegraphed  the  order  to 
Pittsburgh  and  the  matter  ended.80  There  was  no  such  extreme 
excitement  either  in  Washington  or  the  South  such  as  was  to  take 

74  Ibid.,  October,  1923,  p.  90. 

75  Clipping,  H.  S.  P.     "  Who  Stopped  the  Cannon  ?  " 

76  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  p.  88. 

77  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  309. 

78  Black  to  Buchanan,  "  Xmas  Night,"  i860,  H.  S.  P. 

70  There  is  considerable  reason  to  believe  that  at  this  time  Buchanan  did 
not  expect  any  State  to  follow  South  Carolina  out  of  the  Union.  E.g., 
Trescot's  opinion,  A.  H.  R.,  April,  1908.  Trescot's  opinions  in  some  cases 
are  not  true  to  fact  but  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  this  one. 

80  H.  S.  P.  clipping:    "Who  Stopped  the  Cannon?" 


92  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

place  at  the  end  of  the  month.  The  secession  of  South  Carolina 
was  not  unexpected.  It  has  yet  to  be  proved  that  Floyd  sent  the 
second  order  for  any  special  reason.  This  was  also  sent  before 
the  bond  theft  was  discovered,  which  tends  to  discount  the  idea 
that  it  was  a  peace  offering  of  Floyd  to  the  radicals  of  his  sec- 
tion as  Buchanan  and  Black  believed. 

For  some  time  before  December,  i860,  Floyd's  carelessness  in 
business  matters  had  pained  the  President  and  some  of  his  col- 
leagues,81 but  had  been  endured  because  of  compensating  ability 
in  other  lines. 

Captain  Meigs  (consulting  engineer,  in  charge  of  the  building 
of  the  Washington  aqueduct)  and  Floyd  had  quarreled  bitterly 
over  some  contracts  upon  the  building  of  the  Capitol,  and  Floyd 
had  been  on  the  point  of  resigning  in  September,  i860.  Floyd 
wanted  Meigs  stationed  elsewhere.  Buchanan  left  the  matter 
with  Black  82  as  Attorney-General,  who  seems  to  have  sustained 
Floyd,  as  he  remained. 

In  1858  Floyd  began  to  issue  acceptances.  In  i860  he  was 
warned  by  Senator  Benjamin  that  he  might  get  into  trouble  in 
case  any  accidents  happened  to  the  supplies. 

The  initial  part  of  the  story  of  the  abstracted  bonds  has  been 
ably  summed  up  by  a  Floyd  defendant  (Judge  Robert  M. 
Hughes)  : 

During  Buchanan's  administration  the  Mormons  had  been  giv- 
ing trouble,  and  an  expedition  had  been  sent  to  Utah  under  Col. 
A.  S.  Johnston  to  control  them.  It  was  called  the  "  Utah  War." 
The  troops  had  to  be  supplied  by  wagons  across  the  Great  Ameri- 
can Desert,  some  of  which  were  intercepted  by  the  Mormons. 

81  Black,  "  Black's  Essays." 

This  was  due  to  Floyd's  insistence  on  the  payment  of  a  huge  claim  known 
as  the  de  Groot  claim  which  Black,  as  Attorney-General,  held  illegal. 
Buchanan  became  much  vexed  at  Floyd's  lack  of  financial  finesse,  and  he 
lost  influence  in  such  matters  with  the  President.  "  Mr  Buchanan's  wrath 
was  thoroughly  aroused  when  he  heard  of  the  Secretary's  assent  to  the  pay- 
ment of  a  large  claim  in  the  face  of  the  Attorney-General's  opinion  that  it 
was  unjust  and  illegal.  By  his  stern  command  the  money  was  stopped  be- 
fore it  reached  the  hands  of  the  claimant." — "  Black's  Essays,"  p.  13. 

(This  is  a  statement  of  fact  garbed  in  somewhat  rhetorical  language.) 

82  Buchanan  to  Black,  September  8,  i860,  H.  S.  P.  See  Meigs  letter-book 
(L.  C.)  for  his  hatred  of  Floyd. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  93 

The  slowness  of  communication  caused  great  delay  in  the  ac- 
counts, and  the  panic  of  1857  impaired  the  ability  of  Russel, 
Majors  &  Waddell,  the  contractors,  to  handle  their  contract. 
Floyd  therefore,  at  their  request,  accepted  their  drafts  or  orders 
upon  him,  to  be  charged  against  their  earnings.  If  he  had  not 
done  so,  the  troops  might  have  starved ;  there  was  a  clerk  in  the 
Interior  Department  named  Godard  Bailey.  His  wife  was  a 
cousin  of  Floyd,  and  he  owed  his  job  to  Floyd.  On  December 
19th  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  abstracted  from  the  invested 
Indian  funds  of  the  Interior  Department  $879,000  of  the  state 
bonds  and  turned  them  over  to  Russel,  receiving  as  collateral  an 
equivalent  amount  of  the  Floyd  acceptances.  He  claimed  to 
have  done  it  to  protect  Floyd's  reputation,  on  the  theory  that 
Floyd  would  have  to  resign  if  the  acceptances  were  protested. 
(A.  I.  B.  259:270.)  He  gave  Drinkard,  Floyd's  chief  clerk,  as 
his  authority  for  this  supposed  result ;  but  Drinkard  denied  that 
he  had  ever  said  anything  of  the  sort  (A.  I.  B.  120).  His  specu- 
lations had  been  going  on  since  the  previous  July,  and  some  of 
the  acceptances  had  in  fact  been  protested  as  far  back  as  Septem- 
ber without  any  such  result.  There  was  never  a  syllable  of  evi- 
dence to  show  that  Floyd  knew  anything  about  it  till  the  exposure. 
.  .  .  He  left  Washington  so  poor  that  he  had  to  borrow  money 
to  pay  his  expenses  home.  (Black  13;  Rhodes,  Vol.  II,  pp.  in, 
238.)  The  worst  that  had  been  said  of  him  even  by  the  com- 
mittee ostensibly  investigating  the  Interior  Department,  but  really 
investigating  him,  was  that  he  was  careless  in  keeping  an  account 
of  these  acceptances.83 

The  act  was  politically  justifiable  and  legally  much  could  be 
said  for  it.  In  1862  Black  upheld  the  bonds,  and  accepted  a  re- 
tainer from  one  of  the  holders.  Caleb  Cushing  sustained  them, 
and  three  of  the  eight  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  voted  for 
their  legality.  If  Floyd  was  wrong,  he  was  in  good  legal  com- 
pany.84 

The  Government  was  in  an  embarrassing  situation.  Some 
friends  of  Nahum  Capen,  Postmaster  of  Boston,  and  an  intimate 
friend  of  Buchanan,  had  inquired  of  Black  and  Buchanan  about 
the  acceptances,  and  had  been  told  that  if  Floyd  did  it  it  must  be 
all  right.85  Benjamin  had  spoken  to  the  President  about  it  quite 
a  while  before.     Buchanan  replied  that  if  Floyd  had  done  it  there 

83  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  pp.  90,  91.  A.  I.  B.  is  36th  Congress, 
2d  Session,  House  Reports  No.  78. 

84  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  pp.  92,  93. 

85  According  to  Capen  in  a  letter  to  Buchanan,  December  9,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 


94  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

must  be  a  law  for  it,  and  referred  him  to  Floyd.  Benjamin  then 
asked  about  the  authority.  Floyd  said  it  was  an  old  custom. 
Benjamin  advised  him  to  issue  no  more,  due  to  risk  to  the  sup- 
plies from  Indian  attacks  or  other  causes.  Floyd  consented,  but 
later  did  issue  more.  Benjamin  advised  him  in  the  fall  of  i860. 
The  first  issue  had  been  in  1858.  Buchanan  said  a  Senator  other 
than  Benjamin  told  him  that  drafts  on  the  War  Department  were 
on  the  New  York  Exchange.  Buchanan  questioned  Floyd,  who 
said  there  were  only  three  or  four  of  them.  Having  ascertained 
that  no  positive  law  provided  for  such  an  act,  Buchanan  told  him 
not  to  issue  any  more.  Later  Floyd  did  deem  an  issue  necessary, 
and  did  it  without  any  further  advice  on  the  subject.86 

The  Committee  that  investigated  the  matter  found  no  criminal 
intent.87  An  indictment  was  issued  against  Floyd  for  "  conspiracy 
to  defraud  "  the  Government.  He  came  back  from  his  home  in 
Virginia  to  Washington  (March,  1861),  gave  bail,  and  asked  for 
trial.  His  counsel,  Carlisle,  told  him  his  testimony  on  the  com- 
mittee was  sufficient,  and  to  save  money  had  the  indictment 
squashed  by  an  agreed  statement  of  facts.  Carlisle  invoked  an 
act  of  Congress,  which  provided  that  a  witness  before  Congress 
should  not  be  held  in  any  court  for  such  acts  concerning  which 
he  had  testified.88 

This  disclosure  came  at  a  very  unfortunate  time.  The  Cabinet 
was  struck  with  consternation.  A  session  was  called  and  lasted 
until  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.89     Thompson  returned  from 

86  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  355.     Buchanan  to  Capen,  January  24,  1864. 
Buchanan  here  also   said   he  did   not   tell   any   agent    from   Boston   that 

Floyd's  practice  was  valid. 

Buchanan  had  stated  this  fact  in  a  letter  to  Black,  answering  the  question 
as  to  whether  he  wanted  to  make  a  public  statement  regarding  some  of 
Floyd's  statements  pertaining  to  his  issuing  the  notes. 

"  In  regards  to  Mr.  Floyd's  statements,  I  do  not  intend  to  say  anything 
for  the  present.  Soon  after  I  first  heard  of  his  acceptances  of  drafts  pay- 
able on  a  certain  day,  I  had  a  conversation  with  him  on  the  subject  from 
which  I  felt  confident  he  would  never  accept  any  more  and  I  rested  satis- 
fied. About  his  conditional  acceptances  I  never  knew  anything.  My  im- 
pression is  that  he  is  still  a  poor  man  but  on  this  I  may  be  mistaken." — 
March  18,  1861,  Black  Papers,  L.  C. 

87  36th  Congress,  2d  session,  House  Reports  No.  78. 

88  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  p.  94. 

89  36th  Congress,  2d  Session,  House  Reports,  p.  68. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  95 

North  Carolina  and  went  into  action.  There  was  no  indication 
that  any  one  thought  Floyd  guilty  of  willful  embezzlement. 

"  The  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  was, 
that  the  man  who  communicated  these  facts  was  one  of  a  band  of 
conspirators  who  were  concerned  in  a  scheme  for  the  plunder  of 
the  fund."  90 

Of  these,  Floyd  was  held  to  be  the  victim.  It  was  viewed  as  a 
bad  example  of  mismanagement. 

The  press  went  wild  over  the  news.  Cries  for  impeachment 
came  from  such  papers  as  the  Times  and  even  the  Herald  hesi- 
tated. Popular  ideas  were  afloat  that  the  government  was  being 
looted  by  potential  rebels.  Black  seems  to  have  thought  Floyd 
the  worst  bungler  the  government  had  ever  encountered.91  Floyd 
had  disobeyed  his  instructions,  but  that  probably  was  not  the 
main  point  in  this  case.  Buchanan  had  to  have  Secretaries  who 
could  be  depended  upon  to  give  no  cause  of  public  complaint  of 
such  a  nature.  Political  necessity  demanded  that  he  find  a  new 
man.  Immediate  action  was  urged  by  Black,  and  the  President 
was  not  completely  convinced  of  Floyd's  good  motives,  although 
inclined  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Black,  who  was 
at  this  time  Secretary  of  State,  later  held  the  issue  legal. 

Convinced  that  he  must  avoid  future  embarrassments,  Buchanan 
determined  to  have  Floyd  leave  the  cabinet  and  put  in  some  one 
who  would  be  more  accurate,  and  also  satisfactory  to  Northern 
public  opinion.  The  situation  was  becoming  more  and  more  un- 
comfortable for  Southern  men  in  the  Cabinet.  They  could  have 
seen  that  in  a  last  resort  Buchanan's  support  must  come  from 
the  conservative  part  of  the  Northern  people.  Besides  a  volun- 
tary resignation  lessened  chances  of  impeachment.  No  doubt 
Buchanan  thought  he  did  Floyd  a  favor  when  he  desired  him  to 
leave  voluntarily. 

The  President  asked  Black  to  notify  Floyd  that  he  wished  him 
to  resign,  but  Black  refused.  Buchanan  then  said  he  would  find 
some  one.  The  one  finally  found  was  Breckenridge,  a  kinsman. 
Breckenridge  notified  Floyd,  and  afterwards  told  the  President 

90  Ibid.,  p.  70. 

91  Black  to  Buckalew,  partly  printed  in  Tyler's  Quarterly,  April,  1923, 
dated  January  28,  1861,  in  "  Black  Papers,"  L.  C. 


96  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

that  Floyd  was  surprised,  but  said  he  would  resign.92  Floyd  evi- 
dently did  not  mention  this  fact  to  his  family,  however.93 

Buchanan  had  given  an  explanation  of  his  policy  to  the  South 
Carolina  Delegation,  December  10.  It  so  happened  that  shortly 
after  some  Commissioners  from  South  Carolina  came  to  Wash- 
ington that  Anderson  moved.  Thus  the  two  events  were  brought 
together.94 

Unforeseen  events  were  now  at  hand  which  were  destined  to 
provide  Floyd  a  more  dignified  reason  for  leaving  Federal  Serv- 
ice. Anderson  suddenly  left  Moultrie  for  Sumter.  Buchanan 
had  determined  not  to  disturb  the  status  quo  but  to  act  if  attacked. 
Floyd's  instructions  of  December  I,  i86095  show  that  he  was  not 
plotting  to  surrender  without  a  fight.  He  had  also  made  it  known 
to  Trescot  and  others  that  he  would  resign  before  he  would  con- 
sent to  reenforcements  as  he  was  opposed  to  a  bullying  policy. 

On  December  10th  Anderson  received  oral  orders96  through 
General  Buell  to  fortify  one  fort  or  the  other  if  attacked,  and  to 
defend  himself  to  the  last  extremity.  He  was  authorized  to  shut 
himself  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  forts  if  he  had  tangible  evi- 
dence of  a  commg  assault.  At  the  same  time  he  was  warned 
that  no  collision  was  desired,  and  only  to  use  the  above  orders  if 
attacked  by  the  populace  in  case  they  obtained  the  upper  hand 
over  State  authority.     Buchanan,  when  he  asked  for  and  read 

92  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  215. 

93  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  p.  87. 

Some  of  Floyd's  connections  claim  Buchanan  did  not  request  Floyd's 
resignation. 

It  is  certain,  in  my  opinion.  Crawford  shows  that  Black  told  him  of 
Buchanan's  request.  Buchanan  made  this  statement  that  he  had  requested 
Floyd's  resignation  before  Floyd's  death  in  a  letter  in  reply  to  General  Scott. 
National  Intelligencer,  November  1,  1862. 

94  Buchanan,  p.  187. 

95  "  It  is  believed  from  information  thought  to  be  reliable  that  an  attack 
will  not  be  made  on  your  command  and  the  Secretary  has  only  to  refer  to 
his  conversation  with  you  and  to  caution  you  that  should  his  convictions  un- 
happily prove  untrue,  your  action  must  be  such  as  to  be  free  from  the  charge 
of  initiating  a  collision.  If  attacked,  you  are  of  course  expected  to  defend 
the  trust  committed  to  you  to  the  best  of  your  ability."  War  Department  to 
Anderson,  "  Anderson  Papers,"  L.  C,  Washington,  December  1,  i860. 

96  See  whole  note,  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  73. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  97 

Buell's  letter  on  the  21st,  decided  it  would  be  folly  to  expect 
Anderson  to  lose  all  his  men  for  a  mere  point  of  military  glory. 
To  avoid  such  useless  slaughter,  he  ordered  Anderson,  if  attacked 
by  a  greatly  overwhelming  force,  to  get  the  best  terms  he  could.97 
An  attack  would  have  set  the  North  aflame  for  war  without  the 
need  of  killing  all  his  men.  When  the  fort  was  attacked,  only  one 
man  was  killed  and  that  by  accident.  The  battle  was  more  like  a 
test  case. 

Although  Anderson  had  acted  without  any  further  orders  on 
the  part  of  the  President,  and  without  compliance  with  orders  as 
Floyd  understood  them,  the  Administration  did  not  decide  to  re- 
store Anderson.  Floyd,  whose  resignation  had  been  pending  six 
days,  now  had  what  he  considered  a  good  and  valid  reason  to 
resign  in  any  event,  and  did  so.  Had  there  never  been  any  ac- 
ceptances, Floyd  would  have  resigned  at  this  point  due  to  his 
views  against  coercion. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  some  Senators,98  he  issued  a 
statement  to  the  President  telling  him  he  was  pledged  to  maintain 
the  status  quo.  Later  he  came  unasked  (on  the  27th)  to  the 
Cabinet,  and  read  a  protest  in  an  excited  mannen.  The  President 
desired  to  make  a  sharp  written  reply,  but  some  of  the  Cabinet 
persuaded  him  not  to  take  up  the  issue.     Floyd  heard  of  it,  and  in  / 

his  resignation  written  the  27th  and  sent  the  29th,  politely  dis- 
claimed any  discourteous  intent.99  Buchanan  had  on  the  25th 
written  him  a  friendly  note,  inclosing  the  Pittsburgh  dispatch. 
Buchanan  accepted  the  resignation  at  the  time,  but  he  did  not 
write  his  official  acceptance  until  December  31st.100  This  termi- 
nated the  career  of  Floyd  as  Secretary  of  War — a  career  which 
had  brought  much  misfortune  on  himself  and  the  Administration. 
It  is  my  opinion  that  Floyd,  while  always  defending  himself,  at  the 
same  time  saw  it  was  impossible  for  the  President  to  retain  him, 
and  appreciated  the   fact  that  the    President   delayed   until   the 

97  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  pp.  73-75 ;  also  in  "  Anderson  Papers,"  L. 
C.     Floyd  to  Anderson,  December  21,  i860. 

98  A.  H.  R.,  April,  1908,  p.  544;  Tyler's  Quarterly.     Black's  Works,  p.  13. 

99  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  410. 

100  Tyler's  Quarterly,  October,  1923,  p.  88. 


98  JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Sumter  crisis  gave  him  his  opportunity.  In  such  a  case  Floyd  was 
bound  to  resign,  as  he  was  openly  opposed' to,  and  held  himself 
pledged  against,  any  change  in  the  harbor. 

The  question  now  remains  as  to  what  Floyd  in  all  these  esca- 
pades was  really  aiming  at.  Gorham,  in  his  "  Life  of  Stanton," 
tries  to  show  Floyd  guilty  of  great  duplicity  merely  because  he 
was  willing  to  get  some  muskets  for  the  South.  That  act  as  has 
been  shown  was  not  unusual.  Anybody  could  buy  them.  Floyd's 
action  throughout  was  merely  defensive.  Pollard's  extracts  from 
a  diary  discovered  after  Floyd's  death  show  a  significant  sen- 
tence some  days  after  Gorham  says  Floyd  joined  the  Secession- 
ists : 

My  own  conservatism  seems  in  these  discussions  to  be  unusual 
and  almost  misplaced.101 

Alexander,  in  his  "  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,"  states 
that  one  of  the  things  which  annoyed  the  South  (probably  in  the 
fall  of  i860)  was  that  Floyd,  who  was  known  to  be  against  Seces- 
sion, was  on  a  tour  of  fort  inspection.102 

101  Pollard,  "  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  p.  794. 

Pollard,  because  of  his  intense  hatred  of  both  Buchanan  and  Jefferson 
Davis,  is  not  to  be  trusted  in  respect  to  his  opinion  of  them.  He  knew  and 
admired  Floyd.  The  portion  of  the  diary  is  no  doubt  genuine  as  it  corre- 
sponds to  other  remarks  of  Floyd's  at  that  time  and  with  other  Cabinet 
accounts. 

102  Pollard,  unlike  Floyd,  was  a  warm  Secessionist. 

The  following  was  from  Buchanan's  manuscript  of  his  book  but  was 
omitted  upon  the  advice  of  his  friend  Mr.  Kennedy  of  the  Interior  Depart- 
ment : 

The  first  paragraph  declared  that  Floyd's  instructions  denied  the  existence 
of  a  pledge  and  that  the  Fort  Sumter  incident  gave  him  a  chance  to  be  wel- 
comed by  the  Secessionists. 

"  It  cannot  be  denied  that  Secretary  Floyd  was  naturally  a  man  of  noble 
impulses  and  a  generous  heart.  As  a  man  of  business  he  was  both  careless 
and  reckless  and  would  go  much  too  far  to  oblige  his  friends'  favorites. 
The  President  often  had  occasion  to  correct  his  decisions.  Still  it  is  ex- 
tremely doubtful  whether  he  ever  profited  by  the  Russell  frauds.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  he  retired  from  office  a  poor  man.  [Still  these  had  involved  him 
in  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  fatal  necessity  of  acting  a  part  in  opposition  to 
his  better  nature.]  " 

Part  of  Buchanan's  criticism  was  due  to  the  fact  that  some  of  his  friends 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  99 

But  even  better  proof  exists.  Floyd  wrote  a  public  letter  pub- 
lished in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  on  December  6th,  in  which  he 
advised  against  Secession  and  dwelt  at  length  on  its  inexpediency. 
His  position  was  very  much  like  that  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens 
at  the  time.  He  warned  the  South  against  trusting  English  aid, 
and  asked  that  Virginia  initiate  a  convention  of  the  States  to  heal 
the  trouble.  The  policy  was  practically  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Administration  and  Northern  Democrats.  There  was  no  need  of 
Floyd's  writing  a  letter.  It  cost  him  the  support  of  many  South- 
ern radicals.     It  was  a  firm  and  manly  declaration. 

As  to  his  opposition  to  coercion,  Floyd  never  made  any  secret. 
But  it  did  not  follow  at  all  that  he  favored  the  States  withdraw- 
ing from  the  Union.  Upon  returning  home,  he  remained  rela- 
tively in  retirement  until  the  war  broke  out.  He  felt  that  a  war, 
if  it  once  broke  out,  would  be  long  and  bitter.  His  mind  was  bent 
on  defending  his  State  from  coercion.  He  was  one  of  the  many 
men  whom  Republicans  drove  out  of  the  Union  when  they  tried  to 
force  border  State  men  to  invade  the  Southern  States. 

The  relations  of  Judge  Black  and  the  President  were  very 
intimate  and  always  interesting.  In  many  ways  he  was  the  direct 
opposite  of  Buchanan.  He  was  always  hating  or  loving 103  some 
friend  or  idea.  Ever  an  earnest  advocate,  a  shield  and  sword 
for  his  friends,  he  was  the  terror  of  his  foes.  While  he  mingled 
caution  with  a  vehement  spirit,  he  was  never  philosophical.  He 
preferred  direct  assault  to  intrigue,  had  considerable  ability,  but 
little  savior  faire.  Honest,  devoted,  and  fearless,  he  was  never 
backward  in  championing  a  cause  or  a  friend. 

Buchanan  had  known  him  for  many  years,  but  not  as  intimately 
before  1857  as  some  few  other  Pennsylvanians.  He  valued  him 
highly  for  his  ability,  honesty,  and  frankness,  and  owing  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  not  always  looking  for  office.  Black  had  little 
experience  with  Southern  politics  before  1857.  At  first  Buchanan 
had  not  desired  to  have  him  in  his  Cabinet  because,  in  giving 

told  him  that  Floyd  had  insulted  him  in  his  Richmond  Speech  of  1861.  This 
was  not  at  all  the  case,  as  Floyd  had  praised  his  character  very  highly  in 
that  address. 

103  Buchanan,  who  was  more  philosophical,  according  to  Black  "  often 
thought  I  was  unreasonable,  even  severe  toward  both  the  Abolitionists  and 
Secessionists." 


100         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

an  instance,  he  told  William  Porter  that  Black  was  so  careless  in 
keeping  appointments  that  it  would  lead  to  diplomatic  embarrass- 
ments. The  reasons  for  his  final  decision  have  been  noted.  Bu- 
chanan never  had  occasion  to  regret  it. 

Nevertheless,  some  Northern  historians  have  greatly  overesti- 
mated Black's  influence  in  the  Cabinet.  This  matter  is  enhanced 
by  the  fact  that  many  of  Black's  utterances  on  the  subject  were 
written  by  Col.  Frank  Burr  of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  who  so  ar- 
ranged his  articles  as  to  give  Black  the  chief  place  in  the  picture. 
He  practically  admits  this  tendency  in  an  eulogy  on  Black  in 
1883. 104  Some  of  the  old  conservative  Democrats  were  displeased 
with  this,  and  Black  repeatedly  denied  any  such  intention.  It 
must  be  noticed,  however,  that  he  was  not  deficient  in  self-evalua- 
tion, although  he  was  in  manner  unaffected.  The  American  Bar 
has  seldom  had  a  greater  member  than  Buchanan's  Attorney-Gen- 
eral. Had  political  spite  not  debarred  him  from  the  Supreme 
Court,  his  name  would  no  doubt  have  been  linked  with  the  great- 
est of  that  body. 

The  general  impression  one  gets  is  that  Buchanan  considered 
himself  by  far  the  superior  in  statesmanship.105  Experience 
counted  much  with  the  President,  and  in  his  eye  Black  was  still 
a  "  political  baby  "  in  i860.106  Of  his  business  and  administra- 
tive ability,  he  must  have  been  convinced.  He  held  his  literary 
talent  in  high  regard  as  he  was  always  trying  to  persuade  him  to 
write  the  history  of  his  Administration.  Above  all,  both  men 
loved  each  other  as  David  and  Jonathan.  The  history  of  their 
relationship  during  the  close  of  the  Administration  is  a  history  of 
differences  of  two  friends,  a  fact  which  proves  without  a  doubt 
that  Buchanan  was  the  ruling  spirit  of  his  Administration. 

Thomas,  perhaps  the  most  unbiased  recorder  of  the  events  in 
which  he  participated,  speaks  of  Black  as  follows : 107a 

Judge  Black  could  come  nearer  managing  him  [Buchanan] 
than  any  man  I  know  but  he  could  not  always  do  it,  by  any 
means,  neither  did  he  take  his  advice  at  all  times. 

104  Philadelphia  Press,  August  20,  September  10,  1883. 

105  «  Mr  Buchanan  and  I  were  trying  to  reach  the  same  ends  by  different 
methods."    Philadelphia  Press,  September  10,  1883. 

106  Old  clipping  from  the  Philadelphia  Press,  i860.  Meigs'  note-book, 
L.  C. ;  gossip  on  Democratic  candidates  for  the  Presidency. 

107a  Philadelphia  Press,  August  14,  1881 ;  by  Burr. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  101 

Of  all  the  men  in  the  cabinet  in  those  days,  Judge  Black  was  the 
one  who  never  lost  his  head.  He  was  the  one  positive  and  con- 
servative force  in  that  cabinet.  He  expressed  his  convictions 
clearly  and  forcibly,  and  never  seemed  to  lose  his  self-possession. 
Thompson  also  states  the  situation : 107b 

I  was  much  perplexed  those  days,  as  almost  every  member  of 
the  Cabinet  was.  Black  had  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  His  rela- 
tions with  the  President  were  peculiar.  They  were  from  the 
same  State,  and  until  the  differences  came  between  them  on  the 
eve  of  the  war,  they  had  probably  never  earnestly  differed.  After 
it  did  come  they  were  often  seriously  at  variance,  and  frequently 
Black  would  be  on  the  verge  of  resignation.1070 

Thompson  did  not  know  that  Black  actually  offered  his  resigna- 
tion to  Buchanan.     Speaking  of  Black  he  said : 

Although  he  was  very  strongly  opposed  to  the  position  taken 
by  the  southern  members  of  the  cabinet,  we  all  admired  him  very 
much. 

In  answering  a  charge  made  by  a  close  friend  of  Buchanan 
that  he  (Black)  had  put  himself  unduly  in  the  foreground,  Black 
said  (to  Colonel  Burr)  : 

"  I  never  said  or  thought  that  I  was  the  central  figure  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  Administration.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  not  only  the 
central  but  the  only  figure.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Buchanan  was 
constitutionally  fearless  and  firm  even  to  stubbornness.  He  lis- 
tened sometimes  very  patiently  while  he  was  making  up  his  mind 
but  when  once  made  up  he  was  as  immoveable  as  a  rock." 

Then  follows  an  expression  of  Black's  surprise  that  he  con- 
sented to  change  his  decision  on  the  first  draft  to  the  South 
Carolina  Commissioners : 

"  He  had  never  before  to  my  knowledge  given  up  an  opinion 
once  formed.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  acting  upon  his  own  con- 
victions unmoved  by  the  influence  of  anybody  whomsoever  they 
might  be."  108 

i07b  ibM^  March  14,  1883. 

107c  Ibid.,  September  17,  1883,  Tennessee  Advocate. 

^Philadelphia  Press,  August  21-22,  1881. 

"  Of  course  I  recollect  but  little  besides  the  general  tenor  of  the  con- 
versation. I  held  that  what  the  Southern  men  at  that  time  called  '  allegiance  * 
to  the  State  was  an  absurdity;  that  the  word  was  a  feudal  one  and  ex- 
pressed the  duty  of  a  vassal  to  his  lord.  It  had  no  proper  place  in  our 
8 


102         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

In  treating  of  the  Secession  movement,  the  two,  as  will  be 
shown  later,  had  their  differences  from  the  start.  Black  tried 
to  erase  the  term  "  allegiance  "  from  the  political  science  vocabu- 
lary in  America,  merely  retaining  the  term  "  obedience  "  to  laws 
both  State  and  Federal.  This  was  a  rather  novel  way  of  stating 
the  divided  sovereignty  idea.  Buchanan  did  not  personally  hold 
to  the  idea  of  paramount  State  allegiance,109  but  did  believe  in 
State  Sovereignty  and  strict  construction.  He  also  realized  that 
the  doctrine  was  considered  a  logical  deduction  from  State  Sover- 
eignty by  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  Union. 

Black's  opinions  in  November,  i860,  as  well  as  those  of  a  con- 
servative and  able  Pennsylvania  Democrat,  are  clearly  and  ad- 
mirably set  forth  in  the  two  letters  following,  which  not  only  set 
forth  the  difficulties  of  the  Administration,  but  sketch  the  rise  of 
the  anti-slavery  agitation  since  its  inception : 

My  Dear  Judge  : 

I  received,  a  week  ago  or  more,  under  your  frank  the  address 
of  Your  Son  &  read  it  with  great  satisfaction.  It  is  only  too 
highly  polished.  Still  it  lacks  not  pith  and  strength,  and  gives 
political  vocabulary.  4  Obedience  to  the  laws  is  the  duty  of  an  American 
citizen.'  '  Federal  and  State  laws  are  of  equal  obligation,  assuming  them 
to  be  not  expressly  or  impliedly  forbidden  by  the  Constitution.  ...  To 
all  this  Davis  had  an  answer.  What  I  said  did  not  seem  to  make  much 
impression  on  him.  .  .  ."  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21    (or  22),   1881. 

109  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  187. 

One  reason  for  Black's  insistence  on  reenforcements  to  the  Fort  was  per- 
haps the  fact  that  after  he  became  Secretary  of  State,  he  was  beset  by  the 
consuls  of  the  foreign  powers  at  Charleston  concerning  the  attitude  of  the 
Government  towards  the  secession  movement.  The  policy  of  ignoring  the 
movement  as  a  legal  nullity  involved  some  delicate  points  on  the  matters  of 
giving  clearance  papers,  etc.  The  Federal  government  had  no  officer  in  the 
port  and  none  was  confirmed  by  the  Senate ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  Presi- 
dent held  that  Congress,  rather  than  he,  had  power  to  recognize  the  acts  of 
the  State  officials.  All  through  this  matter  the  President  kept  strictly 
within  the  limits  of  his  granted  authority  so  as  to  give  his  Congressional 
opponents  no  offense. 

Some  undated  letters  in  the  Crawford  Papers,  (L.  C.,)  from  Black  state 
that  in  his  private  opinion  he  held  that  an  individual  cannot  be  punished 
when  compelled  to  do  an  act  by  local  authorities  but  that  he  could  not  ac- 
knowledge papers  of  clearance  (issued  by  "  South  Carolina")  officially. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  103 

promise  of  the  paternal  capacity  for  saying  fine  things  in  the  right 
way.  I  wish  that  son  all  success.  I  was  very  much  pleased  with 
my  acquaintance  with  him  at  Harrisburg  and  should  value  an  op- 
portunity to  extend  and  cultivate  it. 

Thus  I  acknowledge  your  politeness  in  sending  me  the  address 
&  have  given  you  my  opinion  of  it  as  I  have  of  every  document  & 
production  you  have  ever  sent  me.  /  never  have  been  able  to  get 
even  an  acknowledgment  from  you  of  any  opinion,  speech  or  other 
thing  that  I  have  sent  you.     There's  the  difference. 

I  have  had  no  heart  to  write  you  or  anybody  else  on  politics 
since  the  election.  But  now  as  I  have  pen  in  hand  let  me  say  a 
few  things  I  want  to  say  to  somebody  &  I  don't  care  how  faith- 
fully you  preserve  what  I  write — nor  when  or  how  it  may  come 
up  in  judgment  against  me. 

Lincoln  &  Seward  are  right.     The  conflict  is  irrepressible. 

Lloyd  Garrison,  offended  with  some  trifle  in  the  Colonization 
Society  about  1835,  &  instigated  not  only  by  the  D-l  but  by  some 
English  infidels,  started  the  scheme  of  abolishing  the  Slavery  of 
the  U.  S.  He  drew  to  himself  all  those  Boston  infidels  whom 
unitarianism  had  thrown  up  to  the  surface  &  they  commenced  the 
war  on  Slavery.  Their  weapons  were  sometimes  gross  blas- 
phemies— sometimes  literary  platitudes — sometimes  humanitarian 
philosophies — but  whichever  they  were,  they  were  directed  against 
Slavery,  not  because  they  cared  for  blacks  or  whites,  but  because 
Slavery  was  an  Institution  of  civilized  and  Christianized  Society. 
They  saw  the  plain  evidence  that  the  principle  of  human  bondage 
had  received  Divine  sanction.  This  intensified  their  hate  of  it. 
They  knew  that  we  as  a  people  were  not  responsible  for  the  in- 
stitution, but  that  we  had  dealt  wisely  with  it  and  had  turned  it  to 
good  account — making  it  the  instrument  of  blessing  to  both  our- 
selves &  the  Slaves.  This  maddened  their  rage.  Here  was  a 
chance  to  war  against  God,  Native  Country,  political  &  social  In- 
stitutions— and  the  vultures  whetted  their  beaks  for  an  unusual 
feast. 

The  first  body  of  men  they  captivated  was  the  Methodist 
Church  &  then  the  conspiracy  began  to  attract  attention.  Then 
the  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  &  Baptist  Churches  began  to 
preach  &  pray  &  resolve  about  Slavery.  The  politicians  of  New 
England  seized  hold  &  mounted  the  hobby.  All  New  England 
became  abolitionist.  New  York  fell  the  next  victim,  then  one 
after  another  of  the  Western  States  and  last  of  all  our  own  good 
old  Pennsylvania. 

O  what  a  fall  was  there  my  Countrymen, 
When  You  &  I  and  all  of  us  fell  down 
Whilst  bloody  treason  flourished  over  us. 


104        JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Thus  this  foul  plague  has  over-spread  all  the  North  &  has  got 
possession  of  the  patronage  &  power  of  the  government.  Do  you 
suppose  it  is  going  to  stop  now  ?  I  tell  you  Nay.  It  is  irrepres- 
sible. It  means  to  invade  the  South  &  sweep  Slavery  into  the 
sea. 

Consider  how  it  has  mixed  itself  up  with  Northern  ideas.  We 
are  a  thrifty,  industrious,  money  getting  people,  and  all  our  thrift 
is  attributed  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  these  northern  states. 

We  are  a  Church-going  people,  and  anti-Slavery  has  become 
the  cherished  dogma  of  northern  theology.  Not  only  so,  but  per- 
sonal religion  has  come  to  be  measured  by  the  zeal  of  slavery 
agitation.  In  almost  all  the  Churches  above  mentioned  abolition- 
ism has  become,  practically,  a  test  of  good  standing,  if  not  of 
Church  membership.  The  Episcopal  &  the  Romish  Churches 
alone  hold  on  to  the  conditions  of  communion  prescribed  by  the 
Saviour,  and  increasing  hate  of  these  Churches  has  marked  the 
progress  of  abolitionism.  Its  march  has  been  attended  also  with 
other  results — such  as  conjugal  infidelities  &  prostitution — 
breaches  of  trust  of  all  sorts,  legislative  corruptions,  fraudulent 
insolvencies,  stuffing  ballot  boxes,  gambling,  lying,  slandering, 
drunkenness  &c  &c. 

We  are  an  educating  people, — and  abolitionism  born  in  hell  & 
nursed  by  the  new  Episcopal  Churches  has  entered  into  our 
schools,  school  books  &  school  literature. 

Now  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  abolitionism  so  incorporated  with 
our  thrift,  our  religion,  our  education,  is  going  to  die  out  just  as 
it  is  about  to  clothe  itself  with  the  patronage  &  power  of  the  gov- 
ernment? I  look  for  no  such  improbable  event.  On  the  contrary 
I  expect  it  to  wax  more  fat,  more  aggressive,  more  destructive. 

The  democratic  party  has  become  powerless  before  the  march 
of  this  Monster.  The  party  is  fast  becoming  abolitionized.  At 
this  moment,  not  only  political  leaders  in  the  party  here  in  Penna. 
but  men  high  in  office  by  virture  of  Democratic  votes,  are  the 
most  gratified  of  Lincoln's  admirers.  Their  sympathies  were  with 
him  in  the  contest  &  if  their  votes  were  cast  for  Douglas  it  was 
not  until  they  were  assured  that  they  would  not  hinder  Lincoln's 
success.  I  don't  mean  that  all  Douglas  men  were  for  Lincoln — 
the  honest  among  them  were  deluded — but  the  excessively  consci- 
entious sticklers  for  regular  nominations,  those  Simon  pures  that 
have  always  helped  Simon  Cameron  to  represent  the  democracy — 
these  immaculate  patriots  and  all  wise  philosophers  who  insisted 
that  the  democratic  party  should  have  a  candidate  for  whom  no 
democratic  state  would  vote — these  are  the  men  I  mean  who  were 
careful  not  to  vote  for  Foster  or  Douglas  until  they  had  assured 
themselves  of  the  success  of  Curtin  &  Lincoln.     And  they,  these 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  105 

very  men,  set  up  for  future  leaders  of  the  party  &  what  do  you 
suppose  the  party  will  do  to  resist  abolitionism  under  their  lead? 

The  results  of  the  election  are  not  to  be  looked  for  in  any 
legislation  that  shall  exclude  slavery  from  the  territories  or  other- 
wise interfere  with  it.  Legislation  won't  be  attempted  until  the 
debauch  of  the  public  mind  shall  have  become  so  general  as  to 
abolitionize  both  houses  of  Congress  &  the  Sup.  Court,  for  until 
then  all  attempts  at  legislation  would  be  abortive.  But  neverthe- 
less the  conflict  is  to  be  waged  with  renewed  vigor.  An  abolition 
party  is  to  be  built  up  in  the  South  through  patronage.  The 
press,  the  pulpit,  &  the  lecturer's  rostrum  in  the  North  are  to  keep 
up  the  agitation.  A  raid  here  and  there  and  a  local  insurrection 
now  &  then  are  to  be  achieved.  Wells  &  Springs  &  Food  are  to 
be  poisoned.  An  occasional  duelling  will  be  fixed  &  a  husband  & 
father  be  occasionally  found  with  his  throat  cut  &  thus  the  ir- 
repressible conflict  is  to  go  on — until  one  after  another  concludes 
— '  well  slavery  is  a  bad  thing — slavery  is  a  sin  against  God  & 
man — slavery  ought  to  be  restricted,  tormented,  extirpated — let's 
vote  for  the  anti-slavery  candidates.' 

Now,  my  dear  Sir,  all  this  I  believe  &  in  view  of  it  what  ought 
a  Northern  man  of  common  sense,  of  common  honesty  and  who 
believes  that  slavery  was  intended  as  a  special  blessing  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States — what  ought  such  a  man,  what  ought 
I  to  think  of  the  proposition  of  the  Southern  States  to  secede 
from  the  Union  ? 

As  a  Northern  man  I  would  beg  them  to  wait — to  hear  and  to 
forbear  a  little  longer.  Though  I  consider  them  greatly  outraged, 
not  merely  by  Lincoln's  election,  but  by  the  northern  legislation 
that  has  already  abolished  the  constitution  &  by  the  agitation  which 
has  destroyed  the  '  public  tranquility '  the  Constitution  was  de- 
signed to  promote,  yet  it  is  possible  the  fears  which  are  too  prob- 
able may  not  be  realized.  It  is  possible  that  the  Good  Being  who 
has  shielded  us  in  times  of  danger  may  save  us  from  our  own 
folly  &  wickedness.  It  is  possible  that  some  miracle  may  exercise 
the  northern  mind  and  restore  it  to  sanity.  I  would  point  them 
to  the  sound  minority  of  the  north — the  more  than  7000  who  have 
not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal  &  who,  though  persecuted  &  cast 
down,  will  never  yield  an  inch  willingly  to  trenchant  abolitionism 
but  will  fight  it  as  they  have  fought  anti-masonry,  Bankism, 
Knownothingism  and  every  other  fanticism. 

If  such  appeals  will  not  stay  secession,  then  let  it  come.  There 
is  cause.  Much  as  I  deplore  it  I  cant  deny  it.  We  have  broke 
the  bond  long  since,  repeatedly,  ruthlessly  and  '  a  bargain  broken 
on  one  side  is  broken  on  all  sides.'  As  a  Northern  man  I  cannot 
in  justice  condemn  the  South  for  withdrawing  from  the  Union. 


106         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

I  believe  they  have  been  loyal  to  the  Union  formed  by  the  Consti- 
tution— secession  is  not  disloyalty  to  that,  for  that  no  longer 
exists.     The  North  has  extinguished  it. 

And  if  they  do  go  out,  don't  let  a  blow  be  struck  against  them 
by  the  present  administration.  Dissuade  them  if  you  can,  but  if 
you  can't  let  them  go  in  peace.  I  wish  Pennsylvania  could  go  with 
them.  They  are  our  brethren.  They  have  not  annoyed  us. 
They  have  benefitted  &  blessed  us  in  a  thousand  ways.  They 
have  been  good  &  peaceable  neighbors.  We  are  the  wrong 
doers.  We  have  driven  them  off  &  if  we  raise  an  arm  to  strike 
the  4  stones  of  Rome  will  move  to  mutiny.' 

Mr..  Buchanan  has  got  the  most  delicate  duty  to  perform  that 
any  human  being  was  ever  called  to.  I  hear  that  he  insists  on 
execution  of  the  laws  in  all  states  that  remain  in  Union,  but  that 
he  will  not  resist  secession.  That  is  exactly  right.  Though  I 
would  have  him  dissuade  from  secession  as  long  as  moral  suasion 
can  avail,  but  if  it  can't  avail,  coercion  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  a 
preventive. 

As  to  Lincoln's  administration,  it  will  follow  that  of  Buchanan, 
Pearce  &  Fillmore  in  this  slavery  question.  He  will  never  put  it 
on  that  tissue  of  lies  which  is  called  the  Chicago  platform,  for  I 
hear  he  is  not  a  born  idiot.  He  knows  the  Government  can't  last 
an  hour  on  that  basis  and  for  the  present  the  irrepressible  is  not  to 
be  waged  in  that  form.  Public  opinion  rather  is  to  be  debauched 
more  &  more  as  Seward  told  you. 

But  I  stop.  Why  I  have  written  you  I  scarcely  know  except 
that  I  wanted  to  pour  out  my  heart  into  some  ear  &  thought  pos- 
sibly I  might  suggest  something  worthy  of  your  consideration  in 
this  hour  of  peril. 

I  am  half  inclined  to  think  however  that  I  should  unsay  what  I 
began  by  saying  &  should  ask  you  not  to  preserve  this  letter  but 
to  burn  it  after  reading  it  twice. 

Of  course  I  should  be  greatly  gratified  to  hear  from  you  and 
am 

Yours  truly, 

Geo.  W.  Woodward110 

Attorney  General's  Office 
My  dear  Sir  : 

When  I  received  your  admirable  letter,  I  intended  to  take  the 
first  moment  that  I  could  steal  either  from  rest  or  my  labor,  to 
give  it  an  answer — not  such  an  answer  as  it  deserved,  for  that 
was  beyond  my  capacity,  but  an  answer  which  at  least  would  be 

no  Black  Papers,  L.  C,  Vol.  XXXIII,  Woodward  to  Black,  November 
18,  i860. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  107 

full  and  frank  on  all  the  subjects  to  which  it  refers.  The  moment 
of  leisure  has  not  come  even  yet.  But  if  it  had,  I  suppose  my 
purpose  would  hardly  hold,  for  events,  so  many  of  them  and  some 
so  unexpected,  have  occurred  in  the  meantime,  that  to  discuss 
their  bearing  upon  the  general  subject  would  require  very  con- 
siderable reflection. 

We  are  probably  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution,  bloodless  as  yet. 
The  cotton  states  have  sedately,  calmly  and  deliberately  deter- 
mined that  no  power  which  they  can  resist  shall  retain  them  in 
the  Union  beyond  the  4th  of  March;  they  will  not  have  Abe 
Lincoln  to  rule  over  them.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  talk  about 
theories,  for  whether  secession  be  revolution  or  the  exercise  of  a 
constitutional  right,  it  comes  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end.  This 
great  country  is  to  be  dismembered.  The  Constitution  that 
Washington  gave  his  approbation  to  is  to  be  broken  up  and  de- 
stroyed. I  see  the  beginning  but  not  the  end.''  The  probabilities 
are  strongly  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  all  the  southern  States 
will  secede  sooner  or  later.  If  Congress  authorizes  and  the  Presi- 
dent attempts  to  carry  out  a  system  of  coertion  or  subjugation 
they  will  all  be  in  a  blaze  instantly.  On  the  contrary  if  no  force 
is  used,  and  the  cotton-states  can  show  the  others  the  road  to 
independence  and  freedom  from  abolition  rule  without  fighting 
their  way,  every  slave  state  will  regard  the  question  as  one  of  free 
choice  to  be  governed  by  their  sympathies.  In  that  event,  the 
choice,  of  course,  will  be  made  before  long,  and  then  where  are 
we?  Can  we  in  Pennsylvania  live  at  peace  with  those  intolerable 
mischief-makers  in  New  England  who  do  mischief  like  monkeys 
for  the  mere  sake  of  mischief?  We  have  no  slaves  to  interfere 
with,  it  is  true ;  but  they  have  organized  a  war  against  the  institu- 
tion of  marriage  which  at  this  moment  is  as  strong  as  the  aboli- 
tion societies  were  twenty  years  ago,  and  they  have  just  as  good 
a  right  to  force  free-love  upon  Pennsylvania  as  free-labor  upon 
Virginia.  I  am  inclined  to  think  also  that  you  and  I  would  take 
any  interference  with  our  matrimonial  relations  about  as  hard  as 
the  southern  people  take  northern  intervention  between  them  and 
their  servants. 

I  think,  however,  that  you  overstate  somewhat  the  power  and 
the  depth  of  the  mere  bigotry,  superstition  and  fanaticism  at  the 
bottom  of  the  late  northern  movements.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
real  anti-slavery  feeling,  the  actual  desire  &  determination  to 
abolish  slavery,  is  as  extensive  as  your  view  makes  it  seem.  The 
corruptions  which  you  speak  of,  the  total  disregard  of  moral 
principle  by  politicians,  are  to  a  greater  extent  the  cause  of  the 
anti-slavery  vote,  and  that  vote  to  a  greater  extent  the  effect  of 
them  than  you  suppose.     You  may  remember  that  in  one  of  my 


108         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

imprudent  letters  written  to  you  about  two  years  ago,  I  told  you 
in  substance,  that  I  regarded  a  certain  infamous  transaction  in 
Pennsylvania  as  likely  to  bring  about  this  very  state  of  things. 
How  could  we  expect  a  set  of  politicians  thus  prostituted  to  hear 
or  to  understand  what  was  necessary  to  be  done  to  save  the  coun- 
try? How  can  it  be  possible  that  they  care  whether  the  country 
is  saved  or  not?  Prostrate  and  fallen  as  they  were,  how  could 
they  rise  to  the  height  of  that  great  argument,  which  was  before 
them  on  the  7.  of  November.  No,  sir,  those  who  conscientiously 
and  really  put  the  abolition  of  slavery  before  the  peace  of  the 
country  and  the  harmony  of  the  states  are  restricted  to  a  few 
hardened,  wicked  ribald  infidels  combined  with  a  few  others, 
religious,  to  be  sure,  but  blinded  and  brutalized  by  bigotry.  The 
worst  trouble  is  that  we  now  seem  to  have  a  majority  in  the 
northern  states,  of  men  who  are  perfectly  willing  to  take  advan- 
tage of  any  prejudice  whether  they  approve  it  or  not,  which  will 
give  them  votes  enough  to  carry  them  into  power.  It  must  be 
perfectly  well  known  to  you  that  in  1856  there  was  a  serious 
debate  among  them,  (it  was  scarcely  settled  indeed  at  the  time  of 
the  election)  whether  their  rallying  principle  should  be  opposition 
to  the  Catholic  religion  or  opposition  to  the  slave-holders.  It  is 
as  sure  as  death  that  in  i860  they  would  have  gone  to  burning 
churches  &  convents,  and  smelling  about  female  schools  with  just 
as  much  zest  as  they  attack  slavery  in  the  southern  states,  if 
thereby  they  could  have  been  equally  certain  of  success.  If  the 
abuses  of  marital  power  and  the  wrongs  of  women  should  in 
1864  become  the  basis  of  a  party  organization  strong  enough  to 
hold  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Union,  how  many  of  our  anti- 
slavery  patriots  do  you  suppose  would  have  virtue  enough  to  re- 
sist the  temptation  of  joining  them,  especially  if  a  few  married 
men  would  suffer  their  indignation  to  boil  over  and  say  or  do 
some  violent  things  such  as  southern  men  have  occasionally  done 
under  the  influence  of  excitement  produced  by  the  abolitionists? 
But  enough  of  this.  The  fact  is,  and  we  cannot  change  it,  that 
though  fanaticism  alone  or  corruption  alone  would  have  been 
impotent,  they  are  now  united  and  present  to  us  a  front  more 
terrible  than  an  army  with  banners. 

If  the  southern  states  could  be  induced  to  hold  back,  to  make 
a  fair  effort,  &  the  Democracy  of  the  Northern  states  could  be 
reorganized  &  expurgated,  and  the  conscience  of  the  masses  fairly 
appealed  to,  I  am  satisfied  that  all  would  be  well.  But  I  fear 
there  is  no  chance  for  either.  The  news  from  the  southern  states, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi  &  Florida  grows  worse  and  worse. 
Virginia  is  preparing  to  perform  the  duties  of  an  arbitrator,  but 
it  does  not  seem  probable  that  she  will  be  listened  to. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  109 

Mr.  Buchanan  has,  as  you  truly  say,  the  most  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult duty  to  perform  that  ever  was  assigned  to  a  human  being,  and 
when  it  shall  be  performed,  no  portion  of  this  people  will  say, 
"  God  bless  you."  A  few  scattered  and  bold  hearts  here  and 
there  will  dare  to  do  him  justice.  But  in  the  North,  his  life's  life 
has  been  already  lied  away,  and  the  South  will  adhere  to  him  only 
so  long  as  he  expresses  no  opinion  against  the  constitutional  right 
of  secession,  and  no  determination  to  abandon  his  sworn  duty  of 
seeing  the  laws  faithfully  executed.  There  is  but  one  thing  left 
for  him,  and  that  is  the  approbation  of  his  own  conscience.  For 
myself  I  value  as  highly  as  anybody  the  recollection  that  I  once 
seemed  to  have  some  portion  of  the  public  confidence  at  home. 
But  it  will  give  me  far  more  pride  for  the  balance  of  my  life  to 
remember  that  I  risked  and  lost  it  in  a  faithful  support  of  princi- 
ples which  sooner  or  later  will  be  acknowledged  as  necessary  for 
the  preservation  of  the  noblest  political  system  that  the  world 
ever  saw. 

I  said  your  letter  was  admirable.  That  is  not  merely  my  own 
opinion.  I  took  the  liberty  of  reading  it  confidentially  to  several 
of  my  friends.  Cobb  said  he  would  give  a  hundred  dollars  for  a 
copy  of  it.  Gen.  Cass  said  that  it  made  him  feel  gladder  than 
ever  for  his  vote  in  the  Senate  on  your  nomination.  To  these 
two  I  read  it  separately,  and  afterwards  to  the  President  and  all 
the  members  of  the  Cabinet  together.  It  excited  universal  ad- 
miration and  approbation  for  its  eloquence  &  its  truth.  The 
slight  criticism  that  I  have  made  upon  it  in  this  reply  was  not  ex- 
pressed by  anybody  else.  They  wanted  to  publish  it  very  much. 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  would  advise  its  publication  in  its  present 
form.  But  can  you  not  embody  the  same  ideas  in  a  shape  which 
will  enable  me  to  lay  it  before  the  world?  Think  of  this  and 
write  me  again  as  soon  as  convenient. 

I  am,  very  respectfully  & 
Truly  yours  &c 

J.  S.  Black.111 
Judge  Geo.  W.  Woodward 
Philada.  Pa. 

From  the  beginning,  upon  the  question  of  re-enforcing  Fort 
Sumter,  the  President  and  Black  differed  on  the  solution  of  the 
problem.  To  the  other  members  of  the  Cabinet  he  appeared  to 
be  meddlesome.  The  President  told  him  in  a  polite  way  that 
such  matters  were  primarily  the  concern  of  the  War  Depart- 

111  Black  Papers,  Vol.  XXXIII,  Black  to  Woodward,  November  24,  i860. 


110         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

ment.112  Congress  was  inactive  and  troops  were  few.113  These 
arguments  were  enough  even  had  the  President  not  put  his  faith 
in  a  different  method  of  procedure.  While  Black's  ideas  have 
been  applauded  by  certain  Northern  historians,  it  would  seem 
that  there  was  much  to  be  said  against  them. 

As  time  went  on  his  impatience  grew  to  a  great  degree  and  was 
fanned  by  the  arrival  of  Stanton  in  the  Cabinet,  in  the  last  of 
December.  The  arrival  of  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners, 
and  their  demand  that  Anderson  be  restored  to  Moultrie,  aroused 
his  impatience  still  more.  When  the  President  did  not  even  ask 
his  opinion  on  his  reply  to  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners, 
Black  spoke  out  vigorously  (see  Stanton),  but  to  no  effect.  He 
was  now  ready  to  resign,  but  could  hardly  bring  himself  to  break 
with  Buchanan  in  his  hour  of  peril.  A  passage  from  one  of  the 
numerous  accounts  read  as  follows: 

On  Sunday  morning  the  30th,  Judge  Black  drove  to  Mr.  Toucey 
and  informed  that  gentleman  that  if  the  President's  decision  was 
not  changed  he  would  be  compelled  to  resign.  A  half  an  hour 
afterwards  he  repeated  his  determination  to  Mr.  Stanton  who 
said  they  would  go  or  stay  together.  Then  Mr.  Toucey  carried 
the  news  to  the  White  House,  and  the  consultation  of  Messrs. 
Black  and  Stanton  was  interrupted  by  a  message  earnestly  sum- 
moning the  former  to  meet  the  President.  "  I  know,"  continued 
Judge  Black,  "  the  sort  of  appeal  he  will  make  to  me,  in  the  name 
of  our  sacred  and  long  standing  friendship.  To  resist  will  be 
the  most  painful  duty  of  my  life."  But  Mr.  Stanton  thought  it 
was  no  time  for  magnanimity  and  he  exhorted  him  to  be  firm 
against  all  persuasions.114 

Judge  Black  was  not  mistaken.  Mr.  Toucey,  the  President 
said,  had  brought  the  worst  news  he  had  heard  yet,  and  bad  news 
was  sadly  frequent. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  was  the  third  great  calamity 
which  had  befallen  Buchanan  in  about  ten  days,  namely ;  the 
rumors  of  Floyd's  default ;  the  unexpected  move  of  Anderson ; 
and  now  the  resignation  of  his  premier,  not  to  count  that  of  Cass. 

112  Philadelphia  Press,  August  7,  1881.     This  article  gives  some  excellent 
facts,  but  shows  an  attempt  of  the  writer  to  put  Black  in  the  spot-light. 
"3  Moore,  Vol.  X,  pp.  282,  283. 
n*  Black  Papers,  L.  C. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  111 

He  had  thought  that  Judge  Black  at  least  would  not  desert  him 
in  this  bitter  hour.  If  he  had  left  him  in  the  day  of  his  power 
and  prosperity  it  might  have  been  different  but  at  this,  the  dark- 
est moment  of  trial  and  adversity,  his  friends  were -few,  and  sorely 
needed.  Almost,  but  not  quite  overcome,  Judge  Black  responded 
that  he  longed  to  stand  by  the  President  and  defend  him  to  the 
end. 

"  There  is,"  said  he,  "  no  storm  of  popular  indignation  I  would 
not  breast  by  your  side,  no  depth  of  misfortune  into  which  I 
would  not  descend  provided  you  had  a  course  to  defend.  But 
answer  to  the  Commissioners  leaves  you  no  cause,  it  sweeps  the 
ground  from  under  our  feet,  it  places  you  where  no  man  can 
stand  with  you,  and  where  you  cannot  stand  alone." 

Mr.  Buchanan  was  deeply  moved,  but  not  more  so  than  Judge 
Black.114a 

He  responded  by  placing  the  answer  in  the  hands  of  the  Secre- 
tary with  permission  to  make  it  what  he  pleased,  but  with  the  in- 
juction  to  return  it  by  six  o'clock  that  evening.  There  was  no 
time  to  be  lost.  Judge  Black  hastened  to  the  Attorney-General's 
office,  where  he  wrote  the  following  paper,  and  Mr.  Stanton  copied 
it  as  rapidly  as  the  sheets  were  thrown  to  him. 

Curtis,  who  relied  upon  information  from  the  Black  articles 
and  addresses,  termed  this  matter  a  "  Cabinet  Crisis."  It  was 
more  properly  speaking  "  Black's  Crisis."  Like  most  of  the 
others,  his  nerves  were  on  edge,  and  the  incident  appeared  larger 
to  him  than  to  Buchanan  or  some  of  the  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet.  Only  Stanton,  Toucey,  and  himself  seemed  to  have 
known  anything  of  it  at  the  time.  Holt,  writing  of  the  matter  in 
1884,  said:115a 

His  highly  impulsive  temperament  and  the  extreme  solicitude 
under  which  we  were  acting  may  have  led  him  to  say  as  much, 
but  if  so,  it  was  unknown  to  me  at  the  time.  Certainly  no  such 
avowel  was  made  to  myself,  nor  did  I  make  any  such  to  him  or 

114a  In  a  later  notice  of  this  event  Buchanan's  position  will  be  set  forth 
more  fully. 
"5  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  86. 
ilea  Cf.  with  Thomas'  remark  above. 
The  conclusion  is  that  one  may  be  impulsive  and  still  know  what  he  wants. 


112         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

other,  and  of  this  he  has  left  record  evidence.  In  a  letter  from 
him  to  Mr.  Schell  under  date  of  6th  of  August  1863  he  said 
"  neither  Stanton  nor  Mr.  Holt  ever  spoke  to  the  President  about 
resigning  upon  any  contingency  whatever,  before  the  incoming 
of  the  new  Administration." 

The  result  of  this  burst  of  "  highly  impulsive  "  temperament 
has  been  the  relative  distortion  of  an  historical  incident.  (Bu- 
chanan's reasons  for  the  first  note  will  be  given  later.) 

The  incidents  of  the  Sumter  and  Commissioners  question  had 
a  marked  effect  on  Black's  psychology.  He  speedily  became  as 
bitter  to  the  South  as  he  was  to  the  Republicans. 

On  January  the  28th  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Buckalew,  United 
States  Minister  to  Ecuador  (a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  per- 
sonal friend),  finding  fault  with  the  South,  Buchanan's  policy, 
the  Republicans,  and  everything  in  general.116  On  the  17th  he 
wrote  a  letter  of  similar  nature  to  A.  V.  Parsons.117  He  was 
evidently  much  put  out  about  Anderson's  truce,  although  he  did 
not  say  so.  On  the  226.  of  January  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Bu- 
chanan as  he  could  not  attend  the  Cabinet  because  he  was  laid 
up  with  rheumatism.  In  this  communication  he  made  some 
caustic  remarks  on  some  of  Toucey's  acts,  but  paid  tribute  to  his 
character.  Toucey  had  authorities  who  told  him  the  Brooklyn 
could  not  clear  the  bar  at  Charleston  while  some  persons  told 
Black  they  thought  it  could.  Speaking  of  Buchanan's  policy,  he 
remarked : 118 

Your  credulity  seemed  then  to  be  founded  upon  certain  assur- 
ances of  certain  outside  persons  in  whom  you  confided  that  noth- 
ing of  the  kind  was  in  contemplation. 

He  added  that  he  thought  the  Administration  had  been  deceived 
by  the  South.     Continuing,  he  said : 

The  short  official  race  which  yet  remains  to  us  must  be  run 
before  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  and  to  win  we  must  cast  aside  every 
weight  and  the  sin  of  statecraft  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and 

116  Black  to  Buchalew,  January  28,  1861,  Black  Papers,  L.  C.     Parts  have 
been  quoted  in  this  study. 
i17  Black  Papers,  L.  C. 
118  Black  to  Buchanan,  January  22,  1861 ;  Black  Papers. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  113 

look  simply  upon  our  duty  and  the  performance  of  it  as  the  only 
prize  of  high  calling. 

Thus  combining  vigorous  exhortation  with  courtesy  and  clever- 
ness, he  betrayed  the  fact  that  others  have  tried  to  deny,  namely 
that  the  President  had  to  be  handled  with  care.  Remembering 
the  fact  that  Buchanan  had  been  in  national  politics  some  thirty 
years  longer  than  his  Secretary,  the  conclusion  was  not  out  of 
place. 

I  am  free  to  admit  that  in  this  hasty  note  I  may  have  been  mis- 
taken. I  do  not  claim  to  be  more  zealous  in  the  public  service 
nor  more  patriotic  than  my  neighbors ;  certainly  not  wiser  than  my 
colleagues.  To  your  better  judgment  I  defer  implicitly.  But 
my  absence  from  the  council  today  annoyed  me  supposing  as  I 
did  that  some  of  the  matters  here  referred  to  might  be  discussed 
in  it.  .  .  ,119 

119  Black  to  Buchanan,  January  22,  1861,  Black  Papers,  L.  C. 

Health  Matters :  Certain  persons,  including  King,  have  tried  to  convey 
the  impression  that  Buchanan  was  much  enfeebled  by  the  cares  of  his  office. 
Before  commenting  upon  this  further  see  the  following  passages  written  by 
a  daughter  of  Judge  Black,  who  was  with  him  at  the  time  in  Washington. 
Black  was  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  brave,  vigorous,  aggressive.  Buchanan 
was  70  years  old  in  April,  1861. 

"  The  anxieties  of  the  time  told  on  Judge  Black.  His  picture  taken  just 
after  he  left  the  Cabinet  shows  a  care-worn  sad  and  thin  face,  not  recogniz- 
able by  those  who  knew  him  in  his  later  years  of  prosperity  and  happiness. 
He  left  Washington  full  of  mourning  for  the  state  of  the  country  and  very 
poor  in  pocket." — Mary  Black  Clayton,  "  Reminiscences  of  Jeremiah  Sullivan 
Black,"  p.  115. 

In  another  place  (p.  112)  she  again  alludes  to  the  subject: 

"  Those  who  were  beside  Judge  Black  at  that  time,  and  suffered  with  him, 
can  never  forget  those  anxious  days  and  sleepless  nights," 

and  adds  that  in  1859  he  was  "  worn  out  from  work  and  tobacco."  He  was 
laid  in  with  rheumatism  in  the  latter  part  of  January  for  a  short  time.  Holt 
lost  his  wife  in  i860.  He  was  also  reported  as  recovering  from  an  attack  of 
pneumonia  in  the  winter  of  the  same  year. 

One  of  the  humorous  attempts  to  give  the  idea  that  Buchanan  was  feeble 
is  the  mention  of  his  wearing  a  dressing  gown  (or  wrapper).  Mr.  Pierce, 
however,  had  a  very  beautiful  one  which  he  wore  while  President  (Maunsell 
B.  Field,  "Memories  of  Many  Men").  Better  still,  the  Lancaster  Corre- 
spondent of  the  Herald  in  1856,  (June  28),  describes  an  occasion  where  Bu- 
chanan wore  such  a  gown.  A  Douglas  paper  in  a  caricature  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  i860  before  the  election  describes  him : 


114         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Black's  influence  on  writing  Buchanan  history  has  been  fortu- 
nate and  unfortunate.  In  summing  up  the  matter,  he  told  Bu- 
chanan he  thought  he  was  at  first  too  lenient  to  the  South  and 
later  too  much  so  to  the  Republicans.  Buchanan  promptly  de- 
fended his  policy,  and  on  one  occasion  in  a  vigorous  style : 

I  am  not  at  all  astonished  to  learn  that  your  views  and  mine  are 
so  far  out  of  accord,  &  that  in  my  administration  I  first  conceded 
too  much  to  the  South  &  afterwards  too  much  to  the  present  ad- 
ministration. My  policy  was  well  matured  .  .  .  (in  his  Decem- 
ber and  January  messages).  .  .  .  From  there  I  never  consciously 
swerved.  .  .  .  Our  opinions  may  be  at  variance  but  I  should  be 
truly  sorry  to  present  ourselves  in  opposition  to  each  other  in 
regard  to  matters  of  fact. 

Black  long  outlived  Buchanan,  reaping  riches  and  legal  vic- 
tories.    He  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  his  times. 

"  Up  to  his  elbows  in  papers  and  up  to  his  neck  in  political  mischief — sits 
the  Old  Public  Functionary !  He  is  arrayed  in  a  long  dressing-gown  and 
slippers,  holds  an  unlighted  cigar  in  his  mouth  and  has  a  peculiar  nervous 
twitching  always  to  the  left  as  if  some  unseen  spirits  were  plucking  him  on 
that  side  by  the  sleeve  and  whispering  distasteful  counsel.  .  .  ." 

No  one  thought  he  ever  needed  any  rest  in  that  dismal  winter.  From 
morn  to  night  he  was  interviewed  and  harried.  Small  wonder  the  President 
looked  worn  and  haggard  (Mrs.  Pryor,  "  Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War," 
p.  no)  ;  yet  he  kept  everlastingly  at  work.  Even  when  he  was  not  well 
enough  to  go  to  his  office  he  held  Cabinet  conferences  in  his  library.  (King, 
"Turning  on  the  Light,"  p.  30.)  During  all  this  time  he  did  clerical  work 
that  would  have  exhausted  a  younger  man.  He  read  an  almost  unlimited 
number  of  letters,  and  filed  them  when  answered.  Midst  the  cares  of  gov- 
ernment, the  President  even  managed  to  attend  at  a  wedding  (on  December 
20th,  Curtis,  "Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  488,  489).  Upon  the 
slightest  remission  of  business,  his  constitution  always  began  recuperating. 
At  first  he  enjoyed  good  health  after  his  return  home  (Moore,  "  Buchanan's 
Works,"  Vol.  XI,  p.  181),  but  in  May,  1861,  he  suffered  from  a  severe 
attack  of  rheumatism  (Moore,  "Buchanan's  Works,"  Vol.  XI,  pp.  190,  191). 
His  excellent  health  enabled  Buchanan  to  live  eight  years  after  his  term, 
when  he  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-seven. 

When  one  takes  all  things  into  account,  Buchanan  stood  the  test  wonder- 
fully well.  His  vitality  was  marvelous.  Polk  died  soon  after  his  term, — 
worn  out.  Harrison  died  in  office.  Pierce  had  to  go  abroad  for  a  rest, 
Buchanan  courteously  putting  a  government  vessel  at  his  disposal  for  part 
of  the  trip.  Wilson  suffered  a  stroke,  and  Harding  died  of  overwork. 
Many  of  these  men  had  far  less  to  endure  than  Buchanan.  The  wonder  is 
that  he  stood  the  strain  with  no  lightening  of  his  official  duties. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  115 

Scorning  Republican  offers  to  favor,  he  remained  a  Democrat  to 
the  last,  and  from  time  to  time  bore  eloquent  and  accurate  testi- 
mony as  to  the  character  and  ability  of  his  chief. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  repetition  of  his  variance  with  Buchanan 
is  not  to  be  too  well  taken.  The  solution  will  always  be  a  matter 
of  doubt,  and  Buchanan  had  plenty  of  support  from  Democrats 
both  North  and  South  in  his  policy  of  delay.  Republican  writers 
of  the  Reconstruction  period  flattered  Black's  ideas  in  order  to 
shift  responsibility  from  themselves.  As  their  writers  now  tend 
to  assume  cheerfully  the  credit  for  making  the  Civil  War,  that 
tendency  is  passing.  At  any  rate,  the  shades  of  Buchanan  and 
Black  can  delight  themselves  in  the  never-ending  satisfaction  of 
an  eternal  friendship. 

The  most  attractive  member  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet  was  Jacob 
Thompson. 

A  review  of  his  relations  with  the  President  is  of  interest  as  a 
character  study,  and  also  because  it  throws  much  light  on  the 
period.  His  unpopularity  in  the  North  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
it  fell  to  his  lot  to  be  the  agent  of  the  Confederate  Government  in 
Canada  during  the  war.  In  that  capacity  119a  it  was  his  duty  to 
try  and  co-operate  with  those  in  the  North  opposed  to  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  war. 

Thompson  was  a  man  who  has  never  received  due  notice.  A 
most  pleasing  personality,  he  had  a  very  cool  head,  and  could  play 
a  difficult  role  with  little  friction.  Winning,  able,  persuasive  in 
argument,  affectionate,  and  warm  hearted,  he  melted  opposition 
rather  than  destroyed  it.  The  deep  mutual  regard  between 
Secretary  and  President  is  very  apparent  in  the  correspondence 
which  forms  a  vivid  and  very  full  narrative  of  their  relations  in 
the  critical  days  of  the  period. 

The  information  given  by  him,  with  some  allowance  for  claim- 
ing a  somewhat  larger  sphere  than  he  may  have  occupied,  is  lucid 
and  valuable.     A  general  summary  of  his  attitude  is  given  in  a 

119a  For  a  brief  account  of  Thompson's  activities  in  Canada,  and  a  refuta- 
tion of  the  base  charges  made  against  him  by  Holt  and  others  that  he  had 
something  to  do  with  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  his  personal  friend,  see 
J.  F.  Bivins,  "  Life  of  Jacob  Thompson,"  in  Historical  Papers  of  Trinity 
College,  Durham,  N.  C,  1898,  pp.  88-91. 


116         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

letter  to  Samuel  Crawford,  and  serves  as  a  correction  in  some 
parts  of  Trescot's  Narrative. 

Memphis,  Tenn., 
Feb.  29th,  1884. 
Gen.  S.  W.  Crawford. 

Dear  Sir  : 

I  have  been  delayed  in  making  my  reply  to  your  very  courteous 
questions  by  the  company  which  has  been  at  my  house  ever  since 
the  receipt  of  your  letter. 

In  the  first  paragraph  where  you  state  my  position  to  the  Presi- 
dent, you  state  it  correctly,  and  although  I  have  added  a  few  ad- 
ditional words,  I  leave  it  with  you  to  adopt  these  words  or  leave 
them  out  as  you  may  prefer. 

When  you  come  to  the  orders  to  Gen.  Anderson,  I  took  little  or 
no  part  in  them.  When  the  S.  C.  Commissioners  came  to  Wash- 
ington I  did  not  go  to  see  them.  I  did  not  allow  myself  to  be 
complicated  with  the  matter  or  question  at  all.  I  felt  that  if  we 
could  manage  to  keep  the  peace,  Congress  could  have  ample  op- 
portunity to  compose  our  difficulties,  and  if  Congress  failed,  the 
Peace  Congress  could  come  to  some  agreement  and  save  the  coun- 
try. This  was  the  hope  of  the  President,  and  I  determined  to 
stand  by  him  as  long  as  I  could  and  therefore  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  have  said  to  Gov.  Floyd  that  if  he  left  the  Cabinet  I 
would  follow  him  on  any  contingency  whatever.  I  am  sure  I 
never  threatened  to  leave  the  Cabinet  except  upon  the  occurrence 
of  a  conflict  of  Arms  or  the  secession  of  my  State.  I  hope  there- 
fore you  will  correct  this  statement. 

I  know  Judge  Black  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  question  of 
reinforcing  the  Charleston  Forts — as  the  question  did  not  in  any 
way  come  up  in  my  Department  I  paid  but  little  attention  to  it 
except  to  express  apprehensions  that  an  effort  to  strengthen  them 
the  first  would  lead  to  conflict  and  I  considered  that  would  be 
disastrous.  Until  the  removal  of  Gen.  Anderson  from  Fort 
Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumpter,  my  attention  was  never  called  to  the 
orders.  Then  I  heard  the  history  of  those  orders  first  from 
Judge  Black  and  afterwards  in  the  Cabinet  I  am  satisfied  however 
that  Judge  Black  suggested  and  caused  to  be  adopted  the  phrase 
that  Gen.  Anderson  was  to  have  the  authority  to  judge  of  the  evi- 
dence of  an  intention  to  attack  him  and  then  to  strengthen  him- 
self as  he  thought  best. 

I  have  answered  you  with  all  frankness  and  as  my  duties  as 
Secretary  of  Interior  called  my  attention  to  the  other  matter  I 
took  but  little  interest  in  the  order  issued  to  the  Army.     I  did 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  117 

not  believe  the  constitution  conferred  any  power  on  Congress  to 
wage  war  upon  a  state  or  to  use  force  upon  a  state.  And  there- 
fore I  acted  throughout  to  avoid  if  possible  any  conflict  of  arms. 
This  was  the  principle  on  which  I  acted  from  beginning  to  the 
end. 

With  sincere  Respect 

Yours  truly 

J.  Thompson. 

At  another  time  he  further  described  his  attitude :  12° 

My  own  position  was  made  plain  to  the  President  very  early  in 
the  action.  I  told  him  if  it  were  possible  I  would  like  to  remain 
with  him  until  the  close  of  his  administration,  but  if  Mississippi 
seceded  I  must  go  out  too.  I  went  to  Mississippi  when  a  young 
man,  and  anything  I  am  she  made  me.  There  I  had  a  handsome 
property.  My  family,  my  relatives,  and  my  friends  were  in  Mis- 
sissippi. If  I  remained  with  the  Union  I  would  be  denounced  as 
a  traitor  to  my  state.  If  I  resigned  when  my  state  seceded  I 
would  be  called  a  traitor  to  my  country.  All  this  I  laid  before  the 
President  and  asked  which  horn  of  the  dilemna  I  should  take. 
His  reply  was :  "  When  your  state  secedes,  I  will  not  insist  upon 
your  remaining." 

Buchanan  accepted  the  situation  as  unevitable  although  later 
he  thought  Thompson  made  a  mistake.121  Thompson's  position 
was  not  unlike  that  of  Lee.  A  second  account  of  the  approach  to 
the  President  upon  Cass'  resignation  shows  the  President  as  de- 
termined to  keep  him  out  of  the  Cabinet  as  Curtis  has  stated. 

I  can  tell  you  something,  however,  about  the  resignation  of 
Cass  which  may  be  of  interest.  The  day  after  sending  in  his 
resignation,  he  came  to  me  and  said  he  had  a  request  to  make. 
He  wanted  me  to  go  to  the  President  and  ask  for  the  return  of 
his  letter.  It  was  a  delicate  task,  but  I  accepted  it.  The  very 
moment  I  broached  the  subject  to  the  President  I  knew  I  had 
undertaken  a  bootless  errand.  He  heard  my  request  in  silence 
and  seemed  perfectly  indifferent.  After  a  while  I  arose  to  go 
and  hinted  at  the  object  of  my  visit,  but  the  President  was  not  in- 
clined to  understand  and  I  left  without  the  letter.  I  told  Cass 
frankly  how  matters  stood,  and  he  said  he  supposed  he  would  let 
it  go  and  say  no  more. 

120  Philadelphia  Press,  September  17,  1883. 

121  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  221. 


118         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Because  of  an  inference  made  by  Clingman  that  Buchanan 
secretly  approved  that  Thompson  should  attend  a  convention  in 
North  Carolina  in  December,  i860,  Thompson  gave  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  whole  subject,  which  is  here  reproduced. 

When  asked :    "  What  was  the  President's  action  in  relation  to 
South  Carolina  when  it  seceded  ?  "  122 

Thompson  replied : 

I  claimed  that  Mr.  Buchanan  planted  himself  upon  the  Consti- 
tution in  his  treatment  of  the  whole  Southern  question.  He  held 
that  a  State  had  no  right  to  secede,  and  that  the  Government  had 
no  right  to  use  force  against  it — a  sort  of  astride  the  fence  that 
would  bring  the  dissatisfied  state  into  that  sort  of  relation  to  the 
general  government  that  an  adjustment  of  the  differences  between 
the  two  must  of  necessity  be  peacefully  made.  This  was  his  idea 
in  the  arrangement  with  South  Carolina.  She  was  not  to  com- 
mit any  hostile  acts,  and  he  was  not  to  menace  its  people  by  re- 
inforcing the  Southern  forts.  In  other  words  they  both  agreed 
that  everything  should  stand  in  status  quo  so  long  as  his  Presi- 
dential term  remained  continued. 

Some  time  in  the  month  of  December,  i860  while  I  was  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  the  government  of  Mississippi  sent  me  a  letter 
requesting  me  to  act  as  commissioner  of  that  state  to  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  urge  it  to  co-operate  with  Mississippi  in 
measures  for  the  protection  and  maintenance  of  Southern  rights. 
This  appointment  was  unexpected  and  took  me  by  surprise.  I 
was  known  as  a  co-operationist,  and  was  opposed  to  separate 
State  action.  I  believed  all  the  Southern  States  should  have  a 
perfect  understanding  with  each  other,  and  when  the  time  came 
for  movement — if  movement  must  be  made — they  should  act  to- 
gether and  act  simultaneously.  At  that  time  Mr.  Buchanan  had 
sent  to  Congress  his  very  able  message  in  which  he  had  denounced 
secession  as  heresey,  unconstitutional  and  unauthorized.  I  dif- 
fered from  this  message  in  this :  That  while  I  admitted  the  con- 
stitution did  not  provide  the  remedy  for  the  States,  yet  each  had 
retained  this  right,  from  which  they  had  never  parted,  to  with- 
draw for  cause  the  powers  they  had  conferred  upon  the  general 
government  and  resume  the  full  exercise  of  them.  But  as  I  held, 
no  man  could  justify  secession  which  was  not  sufficient  to  justify 
revolution,  and  as  there  was  not  and  could  not  be  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  Mr.  Buchanan  any  justifying  cause  of  secession, 
and  as  our  difference  was  a  mere  abstract  one  I  could  with  pro- 

i"  Philadelphia  Press,  March  4,  1884. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  119 

priety  hold  my  place  in  the  cabinet.  When  the  governor's  letter 
was  received  and  I  had  determined  it  was  my  duty  to  accept  the 
appointment,  I  sought  and  obtained  an  interview  with  the  Presi- 
dent and  told  him  I  wished  a  leave  of  absence  to  visit  the  Legis- 
lature of  North  Carolina.  At  first  he  endeavored  to  dissuade  me 
from  going,  but  as  I  persisted  he  insisted  upon  knowing  what  I 
proposed  to  do.  I  unbosomed  myself  to  him  with  the  utmost 
frankness.  I  told  him  that  an  exciting  canvas  was  going  on  in 
Mississippi  in  the  subject  of  secession — that  I  was  opposed  to  any 
hasty  and  hurried  action  on  the  part  of  the  state,  but  that  he  knew 
that  my  conviction  was  that  I  owed  my  primary  allegiance  to  my 
state ;  and  whatever  destiny  she  chose  must  necessarily  be  my 
destiny;  as, yet  there  was  no  existing  cause  that  would  justify 
secession ;  there  would  be  none  during  his  administration,  and  if 
the  states  of  the  South  could  and  would  co-operate  and  appoint  a 
future  day  for  a  united  convention,  and  this  was  known  to  the 
whole  country,  and  we  could  avoid  a  conflict  of  arms  and  blood- 
shed, Congress  which  was  then  in  session,  could  and  probably 
would  in  the  meantime  provide  some  compromise  which  would 
remove  from  the  Southern  mind  any  apprehension  of  an  invasion 
of  their  rights  from  the  North.  I  could  hurry  up  North  Caro- 
lina, she  thereby  would  acquire  an  influence  to  hold  back  Missis- 
sippi and  the  gulf  states.  To  this  end  I  would  visit  the  state. 
All  the  influence  possible  should  be  exerted  to  induce  the  states  to 
have  a  full  and  candid  understanding  of  the  rights  of  the  South- 
ern men  in  their  slave  property.  Unless  that  was  reached  I  fore- 
saw that  the  disruption  of  the  Union  was  inevitable.  If  the 
President  preferred  I  would  at  once  resign,  or  hold  my  place, 
just  as  he  desired.  To  this  he  frankly  replied  that  while  he  feared 
I  would  be  the  subject  of  misconstruction  yet  he  could  not  say 
he  wished  me  to  resign.  And  with  that  leave  I  went  to  North 
Carolina  and  I  am  confident  I  had  but  one  interview  with  the 
President  on  the  subject  of  leave  of  absence  and  therefore  I  could 
not  have  delivered  to  the  President  the  weighty  opinions  and  "  all 
he  said  "  of  Mr.  Clingman.  And  without  this  second  conversa- 
tion, all  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Clingman  is  mere  sounding  brass.123 
I  cannot  close  this  letter  without  bearing  testimony  to  the  great- 
ness, goodness,  and  worth  of  our  departed  chieftain.  It  was  his 
fortune  to  live  amid  dissolving  empires.  But  a  purer  man,  a 
more  sincere  friend,  a  more  devoted  patriot,  an  honester  citizen, 
and  truer  guardian  of  the  public  interests  never  lived  or  wielded 
power. 

123  Both  accounts  were  published  with  a  letter  of  Harriet  Lane  dated 
September  29,  1877,  in  the  Lancaster  Daily  Intelligencer.  Clipping  in  Bu- 
chanan's Papers,  H.  S.  P. 


120         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

A  statement 124  by  Thompson's  chief  clerk  made  in  the  House 
during  the  war  confirms  the  above  testimony.  He  stated  that 
Thompson  was  much  opposed  to  war,  and  earnestly  desired  to 
see  tranquillity  restored.  He  felt  that  perhaps  some  one  desired 
to  embarrass  him  by  appointing  him  to  the  North  Carolina  con- 
vocation. 

The  excitement  over  the  abstraction  of  the  Indian  Bonds  led 
some  persons  to  suspect  Thompson,  who,  like  Floyd,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  matter.  Black  alluded  to  the  accusation  as  fol- 
lows : 125 

Having  mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Thompson,  I  ought  to  say 
that  the  most  infamous  slander  ever  uttered  against  any  public 
man  in  this  country  was  the  charge  against  him  of  abstracting 
bonds  belonging  to  the  Indian  Trust  Fund.  He  was  and  is  a  man 
of  unspotted  integrity ;  a  committee  of  his  enemies  declared  that 
in  this  transaction  he  was  entirely  faultless,  and  yet  the  accusa- 
tion is  continually  repeated  for  the  gratification  of  mere  political 
malice. 

Thompson's  part  in  advising  Buchanan  in  the  preparation  of 
his  message  of  December  i860  and  January  1861  will  be  given 
later.  Upon  reading  Black's  account  of  his  reluctant  intention 
to  leave  the  Cabinet  in  December,  Thompson  said : 126 

I  had  no  idea  he  would  make  it  at  the  time  he  did,  although  he 
made  a  remark  to  me  a  day  or  two  before  that  I  remembered  at 
once  when  I  heard  of  his  action.  We  were  walking  along  a 
corridor  of  the  White  House  together,  and  as  we  reached  the 
President's  door  Black  said  to  me :  "  Thompson,  I  can't  see  how 
we  are  to  hold  together.  I  think  there  must  soon  be  a  general 
breaking  up."  He  said  no  more,  and  we  separated — he  to  visit 
the  President,  I  to  go  home. 

His  ignorance  of  this  event  later  led  him,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned, to  attribute  Buchanan's  attitude  to  the  arrival  of  Stan- 
ton.127 

124  House  Reports,  37th  Congress,  3d  Session  No.  19.  Kennedy  also  re- 
futed Clingman  in  a  letter  dated  October  10,  1877,  to  the  Baltimore  Sun. 
Clipping  in  Buchanan  Papers,  H.  S.  P. 

125  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  1881,  by  Burr. 

126  Philadelphia  Press,  September  17,  1884. 
i27  A.  H.  R,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  532. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  121 

The  sending  of  the  Star  of  the  West  brought  about  Thompson's 
resignation.  He  wrote  Cobb  that  Buchanan  and  Holt  had  played 
the  "  meanest  trick  "  128  on  him  by  sending  a  secret  expedition  to 
relieve  Sumter  and  keeping  him  in  the  dark  so  that  the  news 
might  not  reach  Charleston.  Nevertheless,  his  affection  for  Bu- 
chanan did  not  cease,  nor  his  regard  for  him  abate  as  is  shown 
in  his  letter  of  resignation,  and  a  farewell  letter  that  does  credit 
to  both  of  them.129 

A  feud,  which  seems  to  have  been  smoldering,  burst  forth  at 
this  time  between  Thompson  and  Holt  over  a  telegram  that 
Thompson  wrote  his  friend  Longstreet  in  South  Carolina,  who 
was  trying  to  restrain  the  radicals.  This  feud  lasted  for  over 
twenty  years.  It  was  later  intensified  over  the  claim  of  Thomp- 
son that  Holt  had  paid  witnesses  to  testify  that  he  had  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  in  order  that  Thomp- 
son could  be  executed.130  This  accusation  was  a  base  falsehood 
on  the  part  of  Holt.  Thompson  liked  Lincoln  personally,  and 
would  never  have  thought  of  such  a  thing.130a 

Thompson's  account  of  the  reason  why  Holt  remained  with 
the  Union,  although  probably  somewhat  exaggerated,  is  an  inter- 
esting contribution  to  the  economic  interpretation  of  History. 

Holt's  reason  for  being  a  Union  man  I  can  easily  give  you  .  .  . 

(Then  follows  the  story  of  his  appointment  already  given) 

...  So  he  was  appointed.  After  this  Holt  voted  with  me,  and 
we  got  along  very  well  together,  until  one  day  when  he  asked  me 
what  I  thought  would  be  the  result  of  interstate  war.  I  was  in 
the  act  of  stepping  out  of  the  door,  and,  remembering  the  fact 
that  Holt's  money  was  all  invested  in  Missouri  bonds,  jocularity 
remarked  that  of  one  of  the  results  I  felt  quite  certain — state 
bonds  would  be  a  drug  on  the  market.  From  that  moment  Holt 
became  my  bitterest  foe.  .  .  .131 

128  A.  H.  A.  Report,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  532. 

129  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  401-404. 

130  Among  Holt's  articles  which  show  the  intense  hatred  of  which  he  was 
capable,  are  found  those  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  March  28,  1861 ;  a 
pamphlet,  "  Treason  and  Its  Punishment,"  1865 ;  and  in  the  Philadelphia 
Press,  October  12,  1883. 

130a  See  reference  for  119a. 

131  Philadelphia  Press,  September  17,  1884.  Holt  denied  this  in  a  subse- 
quent article. 


122         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Black  wrote  to  Dix  in  regard  to  the  unfortunate  and  acri- 
monious quarrel : 132 

It  pains  me  therefore  to  see  the  difficulty  between  Holt  and 
Thompson.  Of  course  you  know  Holt  well  enough  to  make  you 
sure  that  he  is  not  only  an  incorruptible  but  a  very  able  man. 

Thompson  is  in  my  estimation,  as  upright,  true  and  honest  a 
man  as  ever  lived ;  one  of  the  most  efficient  executive  officers  this 
Government  ever  had  and  always  true  to  his  duty  as  he  appre- 
hended it.  They  are  quarreling  on  a  point  where  they  are  both 
right  and  both  wrong.  The  order  in  question  was  given.  Holt 
heard  it  and  Thompson  did  not.  What  is  there  in  this  to  make 
an  issue  about?  I  think  the  construction  upon  Thompson's  de- 
spatch that  it  was  a  violation  of  official  confidence  was  a  very 
harsh  one.  On  the  whole  this  business  ought  to  be  dropped  just 
where  it  now  is,  and  if  you  meet  Holt,  I  think  you  ought  to  say 
so.     I  have  no  influence  that  I  know  of  with  either  of  the  parties. 

A  confidential  account  of  what  actually  took  place,  and  who  did 
and  who  did  not  hear  the  orders  concerning  the  Star  of  the  West, 
is  contained  in  the  two  following  letters.  It  is  noticeable  that  the 
cautious  Black  did  not  reply  until  after  the  Administration  was 
over.  The  reason  was  that  Thompson  intended  to  put  the  letter 
in  a  paper  to  answer  Holt. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
To  Hon.  J.  S.  Black  Jany  14th,  1861. 

Dear  Sir  : 

The  uniform  frankness  which  has  ever  been  maintained  between 
us,  makes  it  proper  for  me  to  address  you  certain  enquiries  and 
to  ask  a  candid  reply.  I  am  doing  this  simply  to  vindicate  myself 
against  the  attacks  of  enemies  which  I  anticipate  will  be  made  on 
my  return  home. 

When  the  question  was  up  before  the  Cabinet  on  Wednesday 
Jany  2nd  whether  re-enforcements  should  be  sent  to  Major  An- 
derson; Did  we  or  did  we  not  agree  to  send  a  messenger  to  Fort 
Sumter  to  ascertain  his  true  condition  and  also  his  wish  as  to 
re-enforcements? 

Did  you  not  then  say  to  the  President,  does  the  sending  of  a 
messenger  imply  that  no  additional  troops  are  to  be  sent  till  the 
return  of  the  Messenger — &  did  or  did  not  the  President  reply 
then  rather  impatiently  raising  both  hands,  "  Judge  Black,  it 
implies  nothing,"  or  something  to  that  effect? 

i82 Philadelphia  Press  (by  Burr),  September  10,  1883. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  123 

As  the  letter  of  the  S.  C.  Commissioners  was  brought  in  while 
Mr.  Holt  was  taking  down  the  interrogatories  to  be  propounded  to 
Major  Anderson;  that  subject  being  about  finished;  I  read  the 
letter,  discussion  arose  as  to  the  proper  disposition  of  it,  it  was 
determined  to  return  it.  The  endorsement  was  made  by  the 
President.  Mr.  Glosbrenner  was  called  in  and  directed  to  deliver 
to  the  Commissioners.  Did  or  did  not  the  question  of  sending 
re-enforcements  ever  become  a  substantive  subject  of  considera- 
tion in  the  Cabinet  after  the  reading  of  the  letter?  As  I  aver 
before  high  Heaven  I  never  heard  the  remark  of  the  President, 
re-enforcements  must  be  now  sent — did  you  hear  that  evening 
such  a.  remark  from  the  President? 

On  Thursday  as  we  left  the  Cabinet  meeting  you  asked  me  in 
a  spirit  of  kindness  and  friendship — If  troops  have  to  be  sent  to 
Charleston,  will  you  feel  bound  to  resign  your  place  in  the  Cabinet ; 
I  replied,  I  would  feel  myself  bound  to  do  so.  You  then  asked 
me  to  see  &  talk  with  you  before  I  acted.  I  promised  you,  I  would 
do  so  but  added  I  had  no  thought  you  could  change  my  purpose. 

At  the  time  of  that  conversation  did  or  did  you  not  know  that 
troops  had  been  ordered  by  the  President  or  with  the  President's 
knowledge  to  re-enforce  Major  Anderson. 

I  hope  you  will  do  me  the  justice  to  give  me  your  recollection  of 
the   facts  in  response  to  these  questions  and   I   will  not  permit 
myself  to  doubt  your  willingness  to  do  so. 
With  high  regard 

Your  friend 

J.  Thompson.133 

Washington, 
March  18,  1861. 
My  dear  Sir  : 

My  reply  to  your  note  is  somewhat  late.133a  in  the  day  may  seem 
late;  but  your  communication  in  the  "  Intelligencer  "  of  this  morn- 
ing reminds  me  that  I  can  not  put  it  off  any  longer  withhold  with- 
out seeming  to  do  you  injustice. 

That  an  order  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter  was  given  the  "  Star  of 
the  West "  was  sent  by  the  War  Department  to  Fort  Sumter 
with  men  and  provisions  for  Fort  Sumter  in  pursuance  of  the 
President's  order  made  in  Cabinet  council  I  think  is  a  fact  well 
established  by  the  testimony  of  Messrs.  Holt,  Toucey  and  Stanton. 
But  it  can  not  be  proved  by  me  for  though  I  was  present  at  the 
meeting  I  have  no  recollection  of  hearing  such  an  order  given. 
As  it  escapes  me  I  can  readily  believe  that  you  and  Gov.  Thomas 

133  Black  Papers,  Vol.  XXXV,  L.  C. 

i;!3a  Italics  indicate  portions  of  the  draft  crossed  out. 


124         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

did  not  observe  notice  it;  for  we  were  all  equally  interested  and 
excited  by  the  affair  we  were  dealing  with. 

I  was  present  when  you  wrote  your  answer  to  Judge  Longstreet's 
despatch.  I  wished  you  not  to  send  it  and  used  what  argument 
and  persuasion  I  could  to  make  you  withhold  it.  But  I  did  not 
suggest  that  it  would  be  was  a  breach  of  official  confidence  /  did 
not  see  then  and  do  not  now  regard  it  so.  Knew  the  precise 
situation  in  which  you  were  placed,  as  I  certainly  would  have  done 
if  justice  had  permitted  me  to  put  such  a  construction  could  have 
been  put  upon  the  act.  with  any  show  of  justice,  I  know  the 
precise  situation  in  which  you  were  placed  and  I  believed  then  as 
I  do  now  that  you  were  not  bound  by  any  consideration  had  the 
same  right  to  speak  of  your  obligations  of  secrecy  with  regard  to 
the  * Star  of  the  West '  were  no  greater  than  those  of  any  other 
individual  in  the  nation  you  were  bound  in  silence  concerning  the 
'  Star  of  the  West *  by  no  obligation  which  was  not  equally  bind- 
ing upon  the  hundreds  of  other  persons  who  had  learned  of  her 
movements  just  as  you  had  learned  them. 

all  your 

I  am  bound  to  say  that  your  whole  char  duties  as 

The  records  of  the  government  will  show  how  ably  and  up- 
rightly you  performed  your  duties  as  the  Head  of  the  Interior 
Department.  In  the  unhappy  troubles  which  were  brought  upon 
the  country  and  upon  one.  In  all  the  discussions  and  controver- 
sies controversies  which  marked  the  closing  months  divided  the 
Cabinet  during  the  closing  months  of  the  last  administration  your 
bearing  was  always  frank  and  free  and  generous  to  your  col- 
leagues who  differed  from  you  but  marked  at  the  same  time  by 
unyielding  fidelity  to  your  own  strong  convictions,  of  You  and 
I  agreed  in  general  and  on  a  few  occasions  /  am  with  great  respect 
we  differed  I  am  bound  to  say  Bound  &c  that  I  never  met  a  fairer 
opponent  or  /.  S.  Black  stood  beside  a  truer  friend. 

With  profound  respect  I  am  Your  svt.  J.  S.  B. 

It  might  be  well  to  remark  that  there  is  a  lack  of  complete 
agreement  upon  influences,  and  upon  facts  in  a  few  instances  of 
testimony  upon  Cabinet  matters.  But  the  writer  has  also  noticed 
that  the  same  results  often  occur  in  the  testimony  of  witnesses  in 
trials  where  the  witnesses  have  seen  certain  acts  take  place  from 
their  respective  angles.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  secure  a 
perfect  consistency.  History  is  not  mathematics  and  cannot  be 
limited  by  the  same  exact  laws. 

I3*  Black  Papers,  Vol.  XXXVI,  Black  to  Thompson. 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  125 

The  attitude  of  Buchanan  towards  his  Cabinet  has  been  wilfully 
misrepresented  by  some  writers.  The  myth  of  the  Cabinet  Re- 
gency was  concocted  by  Nicolay  and  Hay  to  injure  Buchanan,  and 
possibly  in  the  hope  of  bolstering  up  the  work  of  Stanton,  and 
perhaps  Black.  The  history  of  how  Buchanan  held  his  Cabinet 
together,  when  part  of  it  was  in  disagreement  on  means  of  policy, 
marks  one  of  the  ablest  pieces  of  work  of  the  President's  whole 
career.  One  main  factor  must  be  understood  from  the  start.  The 
overwhelming  majority  was  agreed  on  the  main  aim  of  the  policy, 
which  was  to  avoid  a  great  civil  outbreak,  and  do  all  that  could  be 
done  to  promote  a  compromise  so  as  to  bridge  the  gulf  and  save 
the  Union. 

First,  then,  Black  admitted  in  a  letter  to  Curtis  on  September 
26,  1 881,  that  Buchanan  was  but  little  influenced  by  his  Cabinet.135 

I  think  the  worst  trouble  he  got  into,  or  at  least  the  one  which 
in  his  subsequent  life  he  remembered  with  more  regret  than  any 
other,  was  caused  by  his  resolution  not  to  trust  his  constitutional 
advisers  with  his  plans  and  modes  of  management.  He  over- 
estimated his  own  power  when  he  thought  he  could  get  along 
without  their  assistance.  He  took  a  great  deal  of  unshared  re- 
sponsibilities. His  consultations  with  outsiders  were  frequent  and 
confidential  but  they  did  not  control  him.  His  object  was  to  get 
information  and  he  got  a  great  deal  which  he  did  not  communicate 
to  his  cabinet.  .  .  . 

Black  believed  that  after  his  so-called  "  crisis  "  Buchanan  put 
himself  in  a  different  attitude,  but  while  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Buchanan  did  humor  his  Cabinet  somewhat  for  political  reasons 
after  that  time,  there  is  some  evidence  that  he  still  kept  his  own 
council,  and  went  his  own  way.  One  incident  illustrating  this 
fact  is  that  neither  Stanton  nor  Black  knew  where  the  Brooklyn 
was  going  as  late  as  the  25th  of  February  when  questioned  by 
Tyler.136 

The  mental  attitude  of  Buchanan  was  stated  by  a  long-standing 
and  very  intimate  friend  who  was  highly  (and  it  would  appear 
justly)  incensed  at  the  editing  of  Burr's  first  interview  (August 
7,  1881)  with  Black.     Joseph  E.  Baker  was  Buchanan's  Collector 

135  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  62. 

136  "  Life  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  589. 


126         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

of  the  Port  at  Philadelphia,  a  most  trustworthy  political  lieutenant 
and  friend.  Buchanan's  papers  contain  many  of  Baker's  letters, 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  politics  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  was 
the  chief  of  one  of  the  factions  of  the  Democracy.  Baker  was  a 
native  of  Lancaster  and  had  known  Buchanan  since  "  I  was  about 
two  feet  high."  In  the  interview  in  which  he  criticized  some  of 
Black's  remarks,  he  touched  on  Buchanan's  attitude  toward  his 
Cabinet,  with  reasons  for  his  course. 

In  the  inharmonious  relations  of  the  Cabinet  the  President  was 
accustomed  to  ask  many  questions  "  for  advice  "  which  masked 
his  designs.  He  may  have  employed  duplicity  or  as  it  is  some- 
times called  diplomacy  in  calling  out  the  real  intentions  of  his 
advisers.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that  he  made  particular  confidants  of 
none  of  his  Cabinet  officers.  As  Cobb  once  said :  "  We  were  like 
a  lot  of  boys."  He  heard  them  and  acted  on  their  advice  if  it 
accorded  with  his  views  and  contrarily  if  it  did  not  suit  him.137 

Baker  also  vigorously  denied  that  Buchanan  was  timid,  and 
claimed  Black  said  so.  This  accusation  Black  vigorously  denied 
in  another  interview138  (about  August  21,  1881),  which  has  been 
quoted  above.     Speaking  further  on  Baker's  remarks  Black  said : 

Mr.  Baker  however  dishonors  him  when  he  charges  him  with 
duplicity  in  dealing  with  his  Cabinet  officers.  He  was  never 
guilty  of  falsehood  that  I  know  of.  I  think  Mr.  Baker  had  his 
unreserved  confidence,  and  it  may  be  that  I  did  not.  .  .  .  [He  said 
that  Mr.  Baker  was  ignorant  of  the  South  Carolina  Commissioner 
matter.] 

The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  President  did  not  try  to  deceive 
his  councilors  in  any  sinister  sense,  but  that  he  was  resolved  to 
keep  as  much  freedom  as  possible  on  the  one  hand,  and  keep  his 
cabinet  from  breaking  in  pieces  on  the  other.  He  asked  advice 
of   many  persons,  partly   for  information,   and   partly   to  avoid 

137  Philadelphia  Press,  August  20,  1881,  article  by  Burr. 

138  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  1881,  article  by  Burr. 

The  President  made  the  initial  drafts  of  most  of  the  documents  sent  by 
his  secretaries.  For  example,  the  first  draft  of  Holt's  reply  to  Senators 
Hunter,  Slidell,  and  Mallory  over  conditions  at  Fort  Pickens  is  really 
Buchanan's  work,  and  remains  among  his  papers  as  an  excellent  testimony 
of  his  personal  supervision.     It  will  be  given  later. 


BUCHANAN'S    MINISTERS  127 

committing  himself,  or  answering  questions.  Some  outsiders  took 
this  as  an  indication  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  wanted  to  do, 
and  this  delusion  has  persisted  until  now,  whereas  quite  the  con- 
trary was  really  the  case. 

The  members  of  the  Cabinet  have  left  a  very  bitter  record  of 
Buchanan's  intercourse  with  the  Senators.  This  attitude  on  the 
part  of  the  President  was  perfectly  natural.  Here  were  the  men 
that  counted,  as  far  as  he  was  concerned.  Some  of  them,  like 
Slidell,  were  men  of  long  years  of  friendly  association.  They 
were  men  of  mature  age  and  long  political  experience ;  they  repre- 
sented the  States  of  the  Union,  they  had  been  his  pillars  in  the 
legislative  branch.  They  had  greatly  contributed  in  making  him 
President.  He  looked  on  them  as  barriers  between  him  and  his 
foes.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  he  should  regard  these  men  as 
more  important  than  his  ministers,  whom  he  considered  more  as 
advisers  and  officers  to  do  his  bidding. 

Thompson,  who  had  much  respect  for  both  Davis  and  the 
President,  gives  his  opinion  of  their  logical  political  relations : 139 

There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  warmest  personal  relations 
existed  between  Mr.  Davis  and  the  President.  He  consulted  him 
on  all  matters  of  importance  and  gave  considerable  weight  to  his 
opinions.  Really  Davis  was  looked  upon  in  the  Senate  as  the 
champion  of  the  Administration.  He  represented  interests  upon 
which  the  President  leaned  for  support,  and  it  followed  that  he 
should  be  consulted  when  an  important  step  was  to  be  taken. 
This  relationship  grew  rather  than  diminished  up  to  the  very  last. 
To  such  an  extent  was  it  carried  that  some  members  of  the  Cabinet 
were  actually  jealous,  and  thought  it  a  slight  upon  them  that  the 
President  should  prefer  to  consult  with  one  outside  of  the  Cabinet. 

.  .  .  There  were  reasons  for  his  moderation.  You  must  know 
that  Buchanan  was  the  President  of  the  South.  He  depended 
upon  Southern  politicians  for  support,  and,  therefore,  must  look 
to  them  for  advice  and  counsel. 

After  his  message  of  December,  there  was  a  rapid  cooling  of 
his  relations  with  men  of  the  Gulf  State  group.  They  urged 
him  for  a  while  and,  it  must  be  admitted,  paid  little  attention  to 
his  convenience.  It  is  difficult  for  admirers  of  Buchanan  to 
pardon   this   incessant   importuning   to   recognize   the   legality   of 

139  Philadelphia  Press,  September  17,  1883. 


128         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Secession  or  to  evacuate  Charleston  harbor.  Still,  it  must  be 
also  remembered  that  these  men  were  likewise  in  hot  water,  being 
constantly  flooded  with  letters  desiring  information  upon  matters 
of  governmental  policy.  It  was  a  difficult  time  in  all  quarters. 
After  the  message  of  January  8th,  personal  intercourse  practically 
ceased  between  the  President  and  the  Gulf  State  group.  Still, 
Buchanan  had  information  from  that  section  through  men  em- 
ployed in  minor  civil  positions,  and  through  a  great  mass  of  cor- 
respondence.140 

After  Buchanan  refused  to  send  Anderson  back,  some  Southern 
Senators  made  insulting  remarks  tending  to  break  down  respect 
for  him.  Buchanan  would  have  been  indeed  very  obtuse  had  he 
not  been  worried  over  the  state  of  the  country,  but  when  one  goes 
through  the  annals  and  sees  the  vast  amount  of  work  he  person- 
ally dispatched,  the  number  of  people  he  received,  and  the  long 
hours  of  Cabinet  counsel,  such  remarks  are  seen  to  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  Buchanan  was  firmly  holding  to  his  correct  legal  position 
that  he  had  no  power  to  change  the  relationships  of  the  State  to 
the  Union  without  Congressional  assent.141 

140  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  221,  222. 

14i  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  488. 

Toombs,  Benjamin,  and  the  more  courteous  Davis  soon  split  with  the 
President  on  the  issue  of  the  day.  Mallory,  Hunter,  and  Slidell  were 
among  the  others.  On  the  other  hand,  the  President  seems  to  have  re- 
tained pleasant  relations  with  Bayard,  Cushing,  Bigler,  Judge  Campbell, 
and  a  host  of  border-State  and  conservative  Southern  State  men  to  the 
close  of  his  administration  and  after. 

As  an  example  of  disagreement  of  a  milder  type,  the  following  statement 
by  Davis  is  submitted  after  the  South  Carolina  episode.  It  was  written 
at  a  time  when  he  felt  very  bitter  towards  the  Administration : 

"  President  Buchanan  has  forfeited  any  claim  which  he  may  have  had 
on  our  forbearance  and  support.  I  regard  his  treatment  of  South  Carolina 
as  perfidious,  and  place  no  reliance  upon  him  for  the  protection  of  our 
lights  or  abstinence  from  hostility  to  us.  In  this  do  not  understand  me 
as  alleging  a  wicked  purpose — his  evil  deeds  rather  spring  from  irresolution 
and  an  increasing  dread  of  northern  excitement.  He  is  said  to  fear  that 
his  house  at  Wheatland  may  be  burned  &  it  is  reported  that  he  apprehends 
impeachment  when  the  withdrawal  of  Southern  Senators  shall  give  the 
requisite  majority  in  the  Senate  to  convict  him." — Davis  to  J.  J.  Pettus, 
"  Works  of  Jefferson  Davis,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  565. 

The    following    was    written    years    later,    after    more    reflection.    The 


BUCHANAN'S   MINISTERS  129 

Enough  has  been  said  to  substantiate  the  statement  of  Buchan- 
an's niece,  found  in  her  very  able  paper  contributed  to  Curtis' 
biography : 142 

I  knew  quite  intimately  nearly  all  the  members  of  his  Cabinet, 
and  heard  a  good  deal  of  their  conversation,  and  I  know  with  what 
respect  they  spoke  of  him,  and  that  the  whole  tone  of  their  con- 
versation was  that  he  was  the  master. 

Sufficient  extracts  have  been  presented  to  show  that  it  was  the 
desire  to  seek  the  path  of  public  duty,  as  he  understood  it,  which 
led  his  Cabinet  to  give  him  their  respect.  Cobb,  Holt,  Black,  King, 
Thompson,  and  also  Floyd  are  prolific  in  such  testimony. 

first  half  has  been  often  quoted,  but  the  last  part  which  is  very  fair  and 
candid  has  been  generally  omitted  by  Northern  writers : 

"  Mr.  Davis  remarked  that  Mr.  Buchanan  more  than  fulfilled  the  Euro- 
pean idea  of  a  Chief-of-State  in  his  social  relations  than  any  American 
since  Washington.  He  was  dignified,  polished,  reticent,  and  suave;  fond 
of  lady-gossip  and  atmosphere  of  intrigue,  a  stickler  for  the  ceremony 
of  power.  His  misfortune  was  as  regarded  his  reputation  North,  that 
he  could  not  forget  in  a  month,  and  at  the  dictation  of  a  party  only 
representing  the  majority  of  one  section,  all  those  principles  which  had 
been  imbibed  in  his  youth,  and  formed  the  guiding  stars  of  his  career 
through  over  fifty  years  of  public  service." — John  J.  Craven,  "  Prison  Life 
of  Jefferson  Davis."  London,  p.  302. 

142  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  676. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Buchanan's  Policy,  1860-1861 

Buchanan's  Policy  from  November  i860  to  January  1,  1861 — 
Cabinet  Ministers  and  Councils — Preparing  the  Message — The 
Message,  an  Analysis  in  the  Light  of  the  Past,  Present,  and  Fu- 
ture— The  Question  of  Fort  Sumter — Floyd  and  Buchanan — The 
Legal  Aspects  of  the  Position  of  the  Government — The  Role  of 
Major  Anderson  and  its  Effect  on  the  Administration — The  Criti- 
cal Days  of  December  and  their  Effect  on  the  President's  Course. 

Buchanan,  as  most  other  public  men,  realized  that  the  prospect 
of  a  Republican  President  would  be  received  with  considerable 
apprehension  by  many  Southern  people.  In  the  month  that  in- 
tervened before  the  convening  of  Congress,  Buchanan  was  ab- 
sorbed in  preparing  his  message.  The  actual  drafting  was  mostly 
done  in  the  State  Department,  where  he  usually  spent  the  morn- 
ing in  a  room  set  apart  for  himself.  It  is  not  possible  to  sketch 
the  daily  chain  of  events  entirely,  but  the  general  trend  is  dis- 
cernible. On  November  7th,  the  following  entry  occurs  in 
Floyd's  diary : 1 

The  President  wrote  me  a  note  this  evening,  alluding  to  a 
rumor  which  reached  the  city,  to  the  effect  that  an  armed  force 
had  attacked  and  carried  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbour.  He 
desired  me  to  visit  him,  which  I  did,  and  assured  him  that  the 
rumor  was  altogether  without  foundation,  and  gave  it  as  my 
opinion  that  there  was  no  danger  of  such  an  attempt  being  made. 
We  entered  upon  a  general  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  dis^ 
union,  and  discussed  the  probabilities  of  it  pretty  fully.  We  con- 
curred in  the  opinion  that  all  the  indications  from  the  South 
looked  as  if  disunion  was  inevitable.  He  said  that  whilst  his  rea- 
son told  him  there  was  great  danger,  yet  his  feelings  repelled  the 
convictions  of  his  mind. 

The  next  day  Floyd  noted  that  Buchanan  was  busy  in  the  State 
Department,  drafting  his  message. 

1  Pollard,  "Robert  E.  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  p.  791. 

As  has  been  said  before,  Pollard  had  a  hatred  for  both  Buchanan  and 
Davis.  His  own  comments  are  not  to  be  regarded,  but  the  diary  seems  to 
be  genuine.  « 

130 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  131 

On  November  the  9th  the  President  took  up  the  administra- 
tion policy  with  the  Cabinet  in  formal  council : 
Floyd  continues : 2 

A  Cabinet  meeting  was  held  as  usual  at  one  o'clock ;  all  the 
members  were  present,  and  the  President  said  the  business  of  the 
meeting  was  the  most  important  ever  before  the  Cabinet  since  his 
induction  into  office.  The  question  he  said  which  was  to  be  con- 
sidered and  discussed,  was  the  course  to  pursue  in  relation  to  the 
threatening  aspect  of  affairs  in  the  South  especially  in  South  Caro- 
lina. After  considerable  amount  of  desultory  conversation,  he 
asked  the  opinions  of  each  member  of  the  Cabinet  as  to  what 
should  be  done  or  said  relative  to  a  suggestion  which  he  threw 
out.  His  suggestion  was  that  a  proposition  should  be  made  for 
a  general  convention  of  the  States  as  provided  for  under  the  con- 
stitution, and  to  propose  some  plan  of  compromising  the  angry 
disputes  between  the  North  and  South.  He  said  that  if  this  were 
done,  and  the  North  or  non-slaveholding  States  should  refuse  it, 
the  South  would  be  justified  before  the  whole  world  for  refusing 
longer  to  remain  in  a  Confederacy  where  her  rights  were  so 
shamefully  violated.  He  said  that  he  was  compelled  to  notice  at 
length  the  alarming  condition  of  the  country,  and  that  he  would 
not  shrink  from  his  duty. 

Floyd  states  that  Cass  deplored  Southern  injuries,  favored  a 
convention  and  coercion ;  Secession  he  held  illegal.  Black  was 
for  a  convention,  coercion,  and  re-enforcements  to  Charleston. 
Cobb  was  hopeless  upon  the  future  of  the  Union.  Holt  did  not 
advise  a  convention,  because  in  case  it  failed  he  thought  it  would 
accelerate  Secession.  Thompson  was  for  a  convention.  He  was 
opposed  to  coercion,  which  would  drive  his  State  to  direct  action. 
Toucey  was  for  a  convention,  and  believed  that  retaliatory  State 
measures  would  bring  the  Northern  fanatics  to  their  senses. 
Floyd  described  himself  both  as  opposed  to  Secession  and  rash- 
ness. He  believed  the  Republicans  would  be  powerless  to  do 
anything.  His  statements  of  his  position  are  practically  the  same 
as  given  by  Trescot's  Narrative. 

The  idea  of  a  convention  was  neither  new  nor  novel.  Many 
of  the  conservative  Democrats  and  border-State  men  were  for 
this  means  of  adjustment.  Two  of  the  ablest  judges  of  Bu- 
chanan's own  State  were  strongly  in  favor  of  the  plan,  Judges 

2  Pollard,  "  Robert  E.  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  pp.  791-793. 


132         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Woodward 3  and  Lewis.4  Buchanan's  idea  of  Southern  moral 
justification  was  a  long  standing  conviction  as  will  be  shown  in 
taking  up  his  message.  It  was  perfectly  consistent  with  his  de- 
nial of  the  legality  of  Secession. 

Buchanan  was  ready  about  this  time  to  issue  a  proclamation  of 
his  policy.  He  asked  Black  about  such  a  plan,  but  Black  advised 
him  to  wait  until  Congress  convened.  This  Black  later  regretted, 
because  as  time  went  on,  the  President  felt  confident  that  he  could 
kill  the  idea  by  an  exposition  of  the  subject.  Buchanan  also  at  an 
early  date  asked  Black  about  his  opinion  of  the  nature  of  the 
Union  as  a  compact,  and  whether  the  South  had  a  legal  right  to 
secede.  He  cited  Rawle  as  an  eminent  authority  for  the  legality 
of  such  an  (see  below)  act,  but  he  was  inclined  to  disagree,  and 
was  glad  to  find  Black  did  not  hold  the  idea  either.5 

When  Black  saw  his  chief  set  on  the  idea  of  going  over  the 
whole  subject  in  detail,  he  prepared  at  his  request  a  sort  of  a  draft 
such  as  he  said  might  have  been  used  for  a  proclamation.  Bu- 
chanan was  not  satisfied  with  it.  He  said  it  was  provocative,  and 
asked  Black  to  write  another  confining  himself  to  a  legal  state- 
ment of  the  case.  He  had  marked  out  a  noble  and  impartial 
course  for  himself,  saying  to  Black  at  this  time : 

"  I  desire  to  stand  between  the  factions  like  a  day's  man  with 
my  hand  on  the  head  of  each  counselling  peace."  6  If  writers 
would  print  a  few  more  of  these  noble  and  patriotic  utterances 
instead  of  finding  fault  with  the  President's  policy,  the  reading 
world  might  approach  a  fairer  judgment  of  Buchanan's  character. 

Before  Black  drew  up  the  final  opinion,  Buchanan  was  evi- 
dently drafting  and  redrafting  opinions  on  the  subject.  It  was 
his  custom  to  draft  and  redraft  many  times  in  the  case  of  im- 
portant documents.  His  nephew  states  he  went  through  the 
same  procedure  on  his  inaugural.7  There  is  also  the  possibility 
that  he  brought  some  of  Black's  first  draft  before  the  Cabinet. 
Stanton's   friends  say  he  was  consulted  also  around  the  tenth. 

3  Woodward  to  Black,  letter ;  see  topic  Black  and  Buchanan  above. 

4  Konkle,  "  Life  of  Chief  Justice  Ellis  Lewis,"  Philadelphia,  1907,  p.  247. 

5  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  1881 ;  article  by  Burr. 

6  Philadelphia  Press,  September  10,  1883 ;  by  Burr. 

7  See  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  187. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  133 

His  opinion  had  little  weight  with  Buchanan,  who  considered  him 
not  very  profound  on  constitutional  law.8  All  through  this  period 
the  President  was  sounding  public  opinion.  Floyd  speaks  of  the 
meeting  of  November  10th,  as  follows : 9 

Nov.  10.  We  had  a  cabinet  meeting  to-day  at  which  the  Presi- 
dent read  a  very  elaborate  paper,  prepared  either  as  part  of  his 
message  or  as  a  proclamation.  It  was  well  written  in  the  main 
and  met  extravagant  commendation  from  Gen.  Cass,  Gov.  Toucey, 
Judge  Black  and  Mr.  Holt.  Cobb,  Thompson  and  myself  found 
much  to  differ  with  it.  Cobb  because  it  inculcated  submission  to 
Lincoln's  election,  and  intimated  the  use  of  force  to  coerce  a  sub- 
mission to  his  rule ;  and  because  it  reprehended  the  policy  of  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  Thompson  because  of  the  doctrine  of 
acquiescence  9a  and  the  hostility  to  the  secession  doctrine.  I  ob- 
jected to  it  because  I  think  it  misses  entirely  the  temper  of  the 
Southern  people  and  attacks  States  Rights  doctrine  on  the  sub- 
ject of  secession.  I  do  not  see  what  good  can  come  of  the  paper, 
as  prepared,  and  I  do  see  how  much  mischief  may  flow  from  it. 

On  November  13th  the  general  situation  was  again  overhauled 
in  a  formal  session.     Floyd  noted  : 10 

We  had  a  long  session  of  the  cabinet  today.  The  President 
read  a  good  paper  suggesting  a  convention  of  the  States  for  an 
amicable  adjustment  of  pending  difficulties.  He  is  uncertain 
whether  he  shall  make  it  a  proclamation  or  part  of  his  message. 


He  also  noted  financial  stringency  in  New  York. 

On  the  17th  of  November  Buchanan  propounded  a  set  of  ques- 
tions to  Black  as  the  latter  had  requested  him.  These  were  to  be 
the  basis  of  his  attitude  toward  the  Southern  question.  Whether 
the  first  opinion  was  alone  an  answer  to  the  questions  of  this  date 
is  not  known,  but  from  what  Black  says  it  would  seem  that  they 
were  not,  and  were  of  a  less  legal  nature. 

8  See  article  on  Stanton.  He  was  appointed  Attorney-General  at  Black's 
request  because  they  were  friends ;  because  Black  wanted  a  man  he  thought 
he  could  rely  on ;  and  because  they  were  trying  some  cases  in  the  Supreme 
Court. 

9  Pollard,  "  Robert  E.  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  p.  794. 
9a  To  the  election  of  Lincoln. 

10  Pollard,  "  Robert  E.  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,"  p.  795. 

10 


134         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

This  opinion11  was  delivered  on  November  20th.  He  con- 
cluded that  the  government  could  act  only  on  the  defensive,  that 
it  could  take  care  of  its  property,  and  enforce  the  decrees  of  its 
courts  on  individuals;  but  it  showed  that  there  was  no  common 
law  for  the  federal  government  to  use  in  absence  of  specific  legis- 
lative commands,  and  that  to  enforce  the  law  against  united  op- 
position in  any  state  "  would  be  simply  making  war  upon  them  " ; 
that  a  declaration  of  war  would  ipso  facto  expel  a  State  from  a 
Union.     Buchanan's  subsequent  ideas  on  the  subject  were  incisive. 

11  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  21,  22;  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  319-324. 

According  to  a  well-known  writer,  Mr.  Corwin,  who  is  an  extreme  na- 
tionalist, Black  erred  in  the  matter  in  refusing  to  send  troops  against  the 
people  of  a  State. — Corwin,  "  National  Supremacy,"  pp.  242,  243. 
It  is  one  of  the  many  attempts  to  read  into  the  words  domestic  violence 
meanings  not  intended  by  the  ratifiers  of  the  Constitution.  The  instrument 
but  not  the  interpretation  of  some  of  the  framers  was  accepted  by  the 
ratification  conventions. — Fowler,  "  Sectional  Controversy,"  pp.  248,  249. 
The  incidents  which  Mr.  Corwin  uses  are  not  identical.  They  are  cases 
where  Federal  laws  were  opposed  by  individuals  in  a  State  and  not  sup- 
ported with  the  will  of  the  people  en  bloc  as  a  State  expressing  itself  through 
its  proper  representatives  in  a  convention.  Jackson's  act  has  been  discussed 
by  Curtis,  a  more  nationalistic  thinker  than  Buchanan  himself. — Moore,  Vol. 
XI,  pp.  46-48. 

Mr.   Corwin  has   avoided   use  of   references   that   counteract  his   theory. — 
Scott,  J.  B.,  "  The  United  States  of  America,  A  Study  in  International  Or- 
ganization," p.  201  et  seq.    Fowler,  "  Sectional  Controversy,"  p.  220. 
Some  of  the  States  even  reserved  the  right  to  draw  their  granted  adherence 
to  themselves. — Fowler,  ibid.,  p.  26. 

Jackson  did  not  behave  like  a  nationalist  in  the  matter  of  the  Georgia 
Indians;  nor  in  his  farewell  address. — Statesman's  Manual,  p.  391. 
Works  of  Stephens,  Davis,  Tyler,  and  Tucker  have  ably  and  successfully 
upheld  contrary  doctrines.  Had  the  ratifiers  of  the  constitution  ever  dreamed 
of  Mr.  Corwin's  theories,  the  instrument  would  have  never  been  ratified. 
Even  granting  the  privilege  of  a  peaceful  revolution  it  narrowly  escaped 
defeat  in  New  York  and  Virginia.  The  fetish  of  which  he  speaks  had 
found  plenty  of  adherents  before  the  Civil  War. 

A  nationalist  like  Hamilton  saw  the  impracticability  of  State  coercion. — 
Fowler,  "  Sectional  Controversy,"  p.  26. 

If  this  phrase  did  not  mean  anything,  as  Mr.  Corwin  would  have  us  believe, 
then  the  Fathers  were  a  group  of  deliberate  frauds  who  spoke  to  deceive. 
And  if  this  were  true,  their  idea  was  killed  by  the  interpretation  of  the 
ratifiers  of  the  document.  To  say  the  least,  there  were  always  two  schools 
of  thought  on  the  subject. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  135 

Those  writers,  however,  who  extol  Black,  and  adversely  criticize 
Buchanan  for  their  stand  on  the  matter  of  the  Union,  will  find  no 
stronger  statement  against  coercing  by  force  the  people  of  a  State 
into  admitting  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Government  than  is 
found  in  the  last  paragraph  of  this  paper  of  Judge  Black  in  any 
official  document  of  the  President. 

While  12  these  formal  consultations  were  in  progress  there  were 
also  many  other  meetings  between  the  President  and  one  or  more 
of  his  Cabinet,  and  between  the  members  themselves.  Some 
time  between  the  19th  and  the  26th  of  November  Floyd  tele- 
graphed Davis,  and  notified  Mason  and  Hunter  to  come  to  Wash- 
ington. Davis  says  that  he  was  sent  for  by  two  members  of  the 
Cabinet.  The  other  one  was  probably  Cobb.  Floyd's  idea  was 
not  to  get  Davis  to  see  about  the  President's  message,  so  much 
as  to  quiet  his  apprehensions  in  regard  to  Fort  Sumter  being  at- 
tacked, in  the  possibility  of  which  event  he  desired  to  send  rein- 
forcements. 

The  oft-quoted  and  over-estimated  rumor,  that  Buchanan 
altered  his  message  to  a  considerable  extent,  is  dispelled  by 
Thompson,  who  was  questioned  on  the  subject  at  the  time  when 
Davis  stated  it  in  his  book.13 

"  I  .  .  .  think  the  President  told  me  that  he  had  written  him 
privately  to  come  up  and  talk  over  the  message  with  him."  14 

Davis  says  nothing  of  any  such  letter  in  his  book,  so  perhaps 
Thompson  was  mistaken. 

"  Did  his  visit  have  any  effect  upon  the  tenor  of  the  message?  " 

"  If  so,  it  was  imperceptible  to  me.     I  heard  it  read  at  a  Cabinet 

meeting,  and  afterward  read  it  over  carefully  myself  before  it 

was  seen  by  Davis.     I  heard  it  read  again  after  Mr.  Davis  had 

spoken  with  the  President  and  could  detect  no  change  whatever." 

12  November  13.  President  gave  $100  for  the  famine  relief  in  Kansas. 
November  23.  "  The  President  repeatedly  expressed  himself  against  the 
secession  movement  believing  that  before  revolutionary  measures  are  adopted 
every  constitutional  and  legal  means  ought  to  be  exhausted." — Richmond 
Enquirer. 

Also  announced  the  President  had  finished  his  message. 

13  Jefferson  Davis,  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,"  New 
York,  1881,  Vol.  I,  pp.  38-39. 

14  Philadelphia  Press, 


136         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  fact  that  he  took  down  Davis*  remarks  shows  nothing,  ex- 
cept that  he  was  courteous  and  desired  them  as  a  matter  of  record. 
Davis  admits  that  the  message  was  so  unlike  what  he  wished  that, 
when  it  was  read,  he  publicly  opposed  it.  Buchanan  frequently 
kept  memoranda  of  interviews.  Davis  and  Buchanan  were  at 
odds  from  the  start  on  the  legality  of  Secession.  Of  his  many 
friends  one  whose  views  were  somewhat,  but  not  wholly  like  his 
own  (Buchanan's),  was  Senator  Bayard  14a  of  Delaware. 

What  Floyd  accomplished  was  to  bring  Davis  and  the  other 
two  Senators  to  town  a  few  days  in  advance  of  their  normal 
arrival  to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  Congress.  Buchanan  would 
have  without  doubt  gone  over  his  message  with  them  in  any 
event.  As  has  been  mentioned,  it  was  his  custom  to  discuss  public 
matters  with  a  great  number  of  prominent  persons  in  order  to 
get  different  light  upon  the  public  opinion  in  different  parts  of 
the  country.  He  depended  upon  these  very  Senators  to  aid  him 
in  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  crisis,  and  to  protect  him  from  any 
violent  attacks  which  the  radical  Republicans  might  launch  upon 
his  Administration.  Davis  had  stood  by  him  nobly  in  1850,  when 
an  attack  had  been  made  by  John  P.  Hale  upon  some  of  his 
remarks  during  Buchanan's  absence  from  the  Senate.  Hunter 
was  a  moderate  man  by  temperament,  and  both  he  and  Mason 
represented  one  of  the  leading  border  States  in  the  Union.  Bu- 
chanan was  also  strongly  hopeful  that  inasmuch  as  he  and  his 
Administration  had  always  supported  the  South  in  their  constitu- 
tional rights  in  the  Union,  they  owed  it  to  him  to  make  no  attempt 

14a  "  It  is  the  President's  duty  under  his  oath  of  office  to  see  that  the  laws 
are  faithfully  executed.  But  could  the  Government  of  this  country  ever 
have  been  founded  for  times  like  this  among  the  persons  [not  clear]  that 
gave  it  existence? 

"If  when  the  reason  leaves  the  law  itself  ceases,  be  true  at  any  time  is  it 
not  the  time  now?  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  made  force  impossible 
against  the  citizen  of  any  State  acting  under  State  orders.  The  reason  of 
Federal  power  was  State  consent  and  when  that  is  denied  what  but  the 
ultimio  ratio  regnum  can  be  given  when  the  reason  for  the  law  ceased. 

"  But  I  am  clear  that  the  details  of  war  against  the  consent  of  a  State 
against  the  whole  or  a  part  of  her  citizens  will  be  without  warrant  [under 
anything — not  clear — of  the  name  of  construction]  of  any  provisions  of  the 
Constitution."— Bayard  to  Black,  January  7,  1861 ;  L.  C 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  137 

to  go  out  during  his  term  of  office.  Then,  he  believed  that  the  Re- 
publicans would  come  to  terms,  and  the  whole  trouble  would  be 
over.  These  men  were  his  friends,  and  comrades  for  many  years. 
He  was  naturally  bound  to  them  by  the  inevitable  ties  of  sympathy 
that  such  associations  had  brought.  To  have  assumed  that  he 
would  not  hear  the  advice  of  the  leaders  15  of  the  Democracy  at 
so  grave  a  crisis,  when  much  of  the  destiny  of  the  country  de- 
pended on  the  conciliation  of  all  factions,  would  be  absurd. 

An  important  phase  in  the  final  drafting  of  the  message  has 
been  told  as  follows  by  Thompson : 16 

The  draft  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  last  message  to  Congress  was  up 
for  consideration  in  the  Cabinet.  The  spirit  with  which  it  should 
deal  with  the  Southern  question  was  an  all  important  one  to  the 
public  men  of  that  section,  and  there  was  a  great  division  in  the 
Cabinet  upon  it.  The  members  from  the  South  were  anxious  to 
get  all  the  concessions  possible,  and  especially  desired  the  message 
to  deny  the  right  of  the  General  Government  to  use  force  against 
a  State. 

We  had  an  earnest  discussion  upon  that  phase  of  the  message 
said  Mr.  Thompson,  to-day  when  reviewing  the  events  of  those 
days,  and  the  President  seemed  exceedingly  anxious  to  get  all 
the  light  he  could  as  to  his  powers  under  the  Constitution.  Judge 
Black  was  advising  him  that  he  had  a  right  to  use  the  whole  mili- 

15  Horatio  King,  who  had  an  interview  with  Buchanan,  relates  it  as 
follows : 

"  Our  chief  clerk,  Mr.  Clements,  and  myself  had  an  hour  with  the 
President  last  evening,  and  our  interview  was  most  satisfactory.  Mr.  C. 
has  just  returned  from  Tennessee,  and  brings  good  news  from  that  State 
to  the  effect  that  nearly  everybody  there  is  opposed  to  the  hasty  action  of 
South  Carolina,  and  is  in  favor  of  one  more  effort  to  preserve  their  rights 
in  the  Union.  The  President  appeared  to  be  much  gratified  to  be  assured 
of  this.  He  is,  as  I  supposed  a  firm  Union  man  ...  I  have  no  doubt  he 
will  take  strong  ground  in  his  message  against  secession  as  well  as  the 
right  of  secession ;  but  were  I  allowed  to  guess,  I  would  say  that  he  will 
not  be  in  favor  of  using  force  unless  the  property  of  the  United  States  is 
interfered  with,  such  as  the  taking  of  the  forts  etc.  when  he  would  be 
obliged  to  act.  .  .  ." — King  to  Dix,  November  27,  i860.  King,  "  Turning 
on  the  Light,"  p.  28. 

For  the  next  thirty  days  King  was  very  much  excited,  and  did  his  best 
to  have  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  the  President  to  sustain  and  ward  off 
all  Southern  suggestions. 

16  Philadelphia  Press,  March  4,  1883 ;  by  Burr. 


138         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

tary  force  of  the  Government  to  protect  the  public  property  and 
enforce  the  laws  in  any  State  in  the  Union ;  and  that  a  state  has 
no  right  under  any  circumstances  to  dissolve  its  relations  with  the 
Federal  Government.  To  this  doctrine  the  Southern  members 
strongly  objected.  Some  of  them  expressed  their  opinions  upon 
the  subject  quite  freely.  I  went  to  the  President  quietly  and 
asked  him  if  he  would  go  with  me  over  the  Constitution  and  the 
Convention  that  framed  it.  I  said  to  him  that  there  was  certainly 
no  expressed  power  in  the  instrument  itself  that  gave  him  the 
right  to  use  force  against  a  State,  and  I  though  that  I  could  con- 
vince him  from  the  debates  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Con- 
vention that  framed  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land  to  deny  either 
to  the  President  or  Congress  any  such  power.  He  asked  me  to 
bring  the  authorities.  I  went  to  my  department,  got  the  report, 
marked  the  pages  where  this  question  was  under,  and  then  went 
to  him  with  them.  We  looked  over  the  subject  carefully  together, 
and  then  I  left  him.  When  I  called  again  for  a  Cabinet  meeting 
he  said :  "  Thompson,  you  are  right  on  one  important  point ;  it  is 
clear  to  my  mind  that  there  is  no  reserved  or  expressed  power 
granted  by  the  Constitution  to  use  force  against  a  State  for  any 
purpose.  It  is  also  apparent  that  the  framers  of  the  instrument 
intended  to  deny  both  to  the  President  and  to  Congress  any  such 
power.  I  am  also  convinced  that  a  State  has  no  right  to  secede 
from  the  Union."  I  was,  of  course,  pleased  that  the  President 
had  reached  the  conclusion  I  had  urged  upon  him. 

When  the  Cabinet  met  I  saw  he  had  the  Constitution  and  the 
report  of  the  Convention  before  him  on  the  table.  The  subject 
was  soon  under  discussion,  and  Judge  Black  most  earnestly  urged 
his  views  upon  the  President.  Much  of  the  final  discussion  was 
provoked  by  this  phrase  in  the  message : 

"  Coercing  a  State  by  force  of  arms  to  remain  in  the  Con- 
federacy, a  power  which  I  do  not  believe  the  Constitution  has 
conferred  on  Congress." 

This  was  the  phrase  Judge  Black  especially  objected  to.  Gen- 
eral Cass  thought  it  could  do  no  harm,  and  the  rest  of  us  were  in 
favor  of  it.  When  it  was  decided  that  it  should  remain  the 
President  said  to  Judge  Black : 

"  I  cannot  agree  with  you  that  the  Constitution  gives  the  General 
Government  the  right  to  use  force  against  a  State,  and  I  think,  if 
you  will  read  these  authorities,  you  will  change  your  mind  " — re- 
ferring to  the  debates  I  had  given  him. 

Judge  Black  did  not  accept  his  defeat  with  very  good  grace,  and 
said  to  me  that  he  did  not  see  how  he  could  submit  to  such  a 
conclusion.     I  said  to  him  that  he  of  all  men  should  stand  by  the 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  139 

Administration.  He  and  the  President  had  long  been  friends  and 
were  from  the  same  State.  He  and  I  were  very  intimate  and 
talked  a  great  deal  about  the  situation,  and  he  was  often  restless 
over  the  President's  decisions  over  a  great  many  matters. 

This  narrative  of  Thompson's,  able  as  it  is,  overstates  the  case 
in  some  respects.  In  the  first  place ;  the  attitude  of  Black  is  over- 
done, probably  due  to  Burr's  editing,  as  a  reference  to  the  paper 
(August,  1881)  will  show.  Secondly:  there  was  nothing  new  in 
this  stand  of  Buchanan's.  He  had  officially  declared  the  same 
thing  on  coercion  in  a  letter  of  1859,  after  the  John  Brown  Raid, 
and,  as  has  already  been  shown,  the  whole  trend  of  the  public 
utterances  of  his  long  career  had  been  in  the  same  direction. 

There  were  few  public  men  in  the  country  who  were  better  read 
in  the  legal  history  of  the  country  than  he.  What  he  concluded 
from  reading  the  debates,  was  what  any  person  might  clearly 
conclude.  In  our  own  time  constitutional  lawyers  and  teachers 
have  read  into,  and  taught  into,  our  Constitutional  history  strained 
interpretations  of  the  work  of  the  Constitutional  and  the  ratifying 
Conventions.  Had  the  idea  of  State  coercion  been  noised  around 
in  the  days  of  the  beginning,  after  the  manner  of  the  post  Civil 
War  period,  there  would  have  been  no  United  States.  Had  the 
rulers  of  that  day  desired  the  type  of  government  that  was  forced 
on  their  posterity  in  1861,  they  would  have  sat  down  and  drawn 
a  frank  declaration  of  a  unitary  government  and  been  done  with 
it.  What  Buchanan  saw  was  plain  to  any  person  who  desired  a 
Union  by  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Some  of  the  States  acted  on  the  above  idea  by  declaring  them- 
selves seceded,  but  provided  for  their  officers  to  carry  on  Federal 
laws  and  duties,  or  provided  that  Federal  officers  should  not  be 
disturbed.  Georgia  did  this,  but  South  Carolina  did  not,  though 
Rhett 17  was  strongly  in  favor  of  it. 

17  New  York  Herald,  December  21,  i860. 

Part  of  Trescot's  Narrative  of  December  2,  i860: 

"  He  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  State  would  secede.  '  But,' 
said  he,  '  you  know  I  cannot  recognize  them ;  all  I  can  do  is  to  refer  them 
to  Congress.' 

"  On  Sunday  night,  when  I  saw  him,  he  went  over  the  ground  again, 
said  that  he  thought  his  message  ought  to  be  acceptable  to  the  South, 
that  he  had  spoken  boldly  and  clearly  and  that  all  he  had  declared  was 


140         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  message  18  which  Buchanan  presented  to  Congress  on  De- 
cember 3d  thoroughly  discussed  the  whole  Secession  question. 
It  has  been  admitted  able  by  some  of  Buchanan's  hostile  critics. 
Curtis,  whose  legal  abilities  on  constitutional  subjects  are  well 
known,  held  a  high  opinion  of  it,19  although  he  seems  to  have 
strained  the  meaning  of  certain  portions  to  correspond  to  some  of 
his  own  (Whig)  ideas.  Two  paragraphs  or  more  were  said  to 
have  been  omitted,  but  are  now  lost  with  the  earlier  drafts.20 

He  first  showed  the  cast  of  his  mind  by  going  to  what  he 
considered  the  cause  of  the  whole  trouble.  This  was  certainly 
not  a  bid  for  Republican  popularity.  As  in  1859,  he  went  back 
to  his  remarks  of  the  thirties,  and  again  stated  that  when  the 
South  feared  for  their  domestic  self-preservation  the  Union  could 
not  hold.21  This  feeling  was  brought  about  by  the  "  long  con- 
that  with  regard  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  property,  he 
would  discharge  all  the  obligations  of  his  official  oath." — A.  H.  R.,  Vol. 
XIII,  pp.  537-538. 
18  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  7-55. 
i»  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  Chapter  XVI. 

20  These  drafts  are  lacking  in  Buchanan's  papers,  which  went  through  a 
fire  before  being  housed  at  the  Historical  Society. 

21  J.  M.  Mason's  daughter  ("  Life  of  J.  Mason,"  p.  163)  says  that  the 
Southern  people  never  feared  revolt.  That  is  an  overdrawn  statement, 
but  more  true  in  Virginia  than  in  other  parts  of  the  South.  Riots  in 
Charleston  occurred  in  the  thirties ;  recent  race  riots  have  taken  place  in 
Washington  and  Chicago.  Burgess  tells  of  the  fright  in  Tennessee  in 
1859;  and  the  following  extract  shows  the  situation  in  Georgia  as  early  as 
1844. 

"  What  will  it  avail  us  at  the  South  for  the  incendiaries  to  cease  their 
work  after  our  throats  are  cut  and  our  houses  burned?  Sir,  the  negroes 
in  Georgia  are  already  saying  to  each  other  that  great  men  are  trying  to 
get  them  free  and  will  succeed,  and  many  other  expressions  of  similar 
nature.  And  if  the  agitation  of  the  subject  is  continued  for  three  months 
longer  we  will  be  compelled  to  arm  our  militia  and  shoot  down  our  own 
property  in  the  field.  .  .  ."  Hon.  J.  W.  H.  Underwood  of  Georgia  to 
Howell  Cobb,  February  2,  1844,  A.  H.  R.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  pp.  54,  55. 

Probably  the  danger  was  not  feared  in  certain  sections  of  the  border 
States,  but  in  the  cotton  States  it  was  considered  by  many  a  real  menace. 
Buchanan  expressed  this  conviction  in  letters  as  well  as  public  addresses 
before  i860  and  after.  He  touched  on  a  great  fact  in  concluding  the 
paragraph — that  when  any  people  find  that  a  government  cannot  and  will 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  141 

tinued  and  intemperate  interference  of  the  Northern  people  and 
had  produced  its  natural  effects. " 

The  President  then  briefly  cited  the  circulation  of  inflammatory 
circulars  among  negroes  since  Jackson's  time,  and  resolutions  in- 
troduced at  Washington  and  sent  over  the  country.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that,  as  Senator,  he  wisely  voted  to  receive,  but  table, 
such  resolutions  so  as  to  prevent  the  linking  of  anti-slavery  with 
the  restraint  of  our  speech  or  right  of  petition  on  the  slavery 
issue.  He  then  said  that  the  moral  responsibility  rested  on  the 
States  as  sovereign  bodies,  and  that  the  North  "  are  no  more 
responsible  and  have  no  more  right  to  interfere  with  them  than 
with  the  similar  institutions  in  Russia  or  in  Brazil." 

Without   forbearance  no    President   could   save   the   Union. 

The  question  which  Buchanan  propounded  to  himself  was: 

"  Does   the  election   of    i860   constitute   a  valid   cause   for 
secession  ?  " 

When  he  answered  that  question  in  the  negative  it  put  him  on 
the  record  as  opposed  to  any  violent  action  because  of  that  election. 

The  new  President,  he  believed,  once  feeling  the  burdens  of 
office,  would  be  conservative.  He  described  the  many  limitations 
of  the  office  of  the  executive,  which  showed  his  own  strict  con- 
struction views  of  the  office.  Then,  in  a  philosophic  vein,  with 
one  of  his  favorite  phrases :  "  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the 
evil  thereof,  the  day  of  evil  may  never  come  unless  we  shall 
rashly  bring  it  upon  ourselves."  The  idea  of  waiting  for  the 
overt  act  was  in  direct  conflict  with  Cobb's  opinions  (November 
13th),  and  had  accelerated  his  resignation. 

The  doctrine  of  legal  secession  was  declared  to  be  of  recent 
origin ;  it  would  lead  to  petty  jarring  republics ;  Jackson  and 
Madison  were  quoted  as  opposed  to  it.  The  powers  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  were  enumerated,  and  the  supreme  law  clause 
was  mentioned  as  a  means  to  "  secure  the  uninterrupted  exercise 
of  these  high  powers."  22     Davis  agreed  to  that  also. 

not  perform  the  sacred  duty  of  protecting  life  and  property,  no  feeling  of 
loyalty  can  long  endure.     The  Gulf  States  in  1860-1861  could  not  find  many 
benefits  which  they  could  not  better  enjoy  as  independent  States. 
22  Davis,  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederacy,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  150,  151. 


142         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  statement  that  the  laws  of  the  Federal  Government  in  their 
legitimate  sphere  were  as  binding  on  the  individuals  of  the  States 
as  if  textually  inserted  therein  was  probably  intended  to  be  a 
very  strong  statement.  It  sounds  like  Black's  theory  of  obedience 
to  laws  and  elimination  of  sovereignty.  As  a  fact  there  was 
nothing  in  it  to  disturb  even  a  follower  of  Calhoun,  because  Cal- 
houn cheerfully  admitted  that  individuals  owed  obedience  to 
Federal  law  but  supreme  allegiance  to  the  State.  The  question  of 
allegiance  Buchanan  did  not  touch.  He  considered  state  allegiance 
as  "principles  of  false23  honor"  in  i86i,23a  but  did  not  take  it 
up  at  this  time.  He  could  hardly  do  so  as  the  matter  was  never 
fully  settled  until  the  Civil  War  was  closed. 

Then  followed  a  number  of  paragraphs  devoted  to  the  perpetu- 
ity of  the  Union.24  He  correctly  noticed  that  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  were  perpetual.  He  might  have  continued  to  ob- 
serve that  in  that  case  a  peaceful  revolution  brought  about  desired 

23  "  false  " — mistaken. 

23a  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  187. 

24  In  speaking  of  the  Virginia  resolutions,  Buchanan  denied  that  Madi- 
son ever  intended  a  resort  to  violent  measures  to  change  the  Constitution. 
There  was  an  implied  denial  that  these  measures  gave  the  right  to  any- 
irregular  proceeding  like  secession.  He  generally  referred  to  Madison's 
report  to  sustain  this  point.  The  South,  however,  and  Calhoun  had  claimed 
that  his  doctrine  of  secession  grew  from  these  resolutions.  Madison  had 
denied  it  when  he  became  alarmed  at  the  proceedings  of  South  Carolina 
in  1832,  but  he  had  found  himself  much  embarrassed  at  that  time.  Upon 
the  Kentucky  resolution,  Buchanan  was  silent.  Both  parties  in  the  papers 
in  i860  raked  the  files  for  letters  of  the  fathers  supporting  their  causes. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  great  Democrat,  Thomas  Jefferson,  favored 
peaceful  rather  than  violent  separation  at  the  time  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, although  he  deeply  deplored  any  such  event.  He  was  also  against 
military  coercion  of  the  West  in  case  that  part  of  the  country  seceded  in 
1803. 

(R.  G.  Horton,  "Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  p.  68.  At  an 
earlier  date  see  Jefferson's  Works,  edited  by  T.  J.  Randolph,  Vol.  IV,  p.  14. 
Jefferson's  Works,  Ford  Edition,  Vol.  IV,  p.  191 ;  Vol.  VI,  p.  66.) 
Edward  Everett  tried  to  show  that  Jefferson  had  spoken  of  naval  co- 
ercion, but  he  neglected  to  indicate  that  this  was  an  occasion  in  which 
secession  from  the  Union  was  not  contemplated.  Jefferson  would  never 
have  consented  to  keep  over  one-third  of  the  states  in  the  Union  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  143 

changes  through  the  agency  of  the  Congress.  The  precedent  was 
plain  to  any  thinking  person  as  to  what  could  be  done  to  avert 
disaster. 

Buchanan  delivered  an  able  attack  on  the  personal  liberty  laws, 
declaring  the  historical  necessity  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  as  a 
means  of  Union;  the  nullity  of  personal  liberty  laws,  and  that 
unless  the  States  repealed  those  acts  "  it  is  impossible  for  any 
power  to  save  the  Union."  In  passing,  it  may  be  observed  that, 
whether  right  or  wrong  by  individual  creeds,  the  laws  were  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution.  The  States  passing  them  refused 
to  secure  the  property  of  other  persons  in  the  Union.  This  was 
revolutionary,  and  a  breach  of  the  essence  of  government.  It  was 
a  violation  of  the  articles  of  government  and  all  principles  of 
political  science.  To  live  in  a  Union  which  could  not  secure  the 
protection  of  the  property  of  its  citizens  would  be  ruin  in  the  long 
run.  The  North  in  such  a  case  would  be  violating  the  Union. 
The  Federal  compact  had  been  violated.  Buchanan's  attitude  was 
not  Calhounism,  but  an  argument  based  on  the  general  principle 
for  which  governments  were  supposed  to  exist.  It  is  also  well  to 
remember  that  in  some  States,  fines  were  laid  on  persons  who 
might  comply  with  the  Federal  acts.  A  man  who  "  rescued,"  in 
Buchanan's  term,  a  proven  fugitive  by  violence  from  the  posses- 
sion of  a  marshal  for  his  punishment  was  liberated  on  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  by  the  supreme  court  of  Wisconsin.  Still,  Northern 
writers  decry  Southern  nullification !  These  personal  liberty  acts 
were  the  creation  of  State  legislatures  and  not  sovereign  con- 
ventions,— a  state  of  things  more  easily  suited  to  Federal  coercion. 
What  would  the  North  have  said  had  the  Administration  forced 
the  carrying  out  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  by  large  bodies  of 
troops  ? 

The  President  declared  that  unless  the  repeal  of  these  acts 
took  place,  the  Constitution  would  have  been  wilfully  violated, 
and  the  injured  States,  "  after  having  first  used  all  peaceful  and 
constitutional  measures  to  obtain  redress,  would  be  justified  in 
revolutionary  resistence  to  the  government  of  the  Union."  Fur- 
ther on  he  declared:  "It  (Secession)  may  or  it  may  not  be  a 
justifiable  revolution  but  still  it  is  revolution." 

Buchanan  was  practically  compelled  to  make  these  statements 


144         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

to  avoid  inconsistencies.  His  memory  could  carry  him  back  to 
1856  when  he  declared  the  election  of  Fremont  would  cause  the 
disruption  of  the  Union,  an  event  which  caused  him  to  say :  "  God 
save  the  Union !  I  do  not  wish  to  survive  it."  2C  His  later  sup- 
port of  the  war  displeased  one  of  his  old  friends  who  wrote : 26 

In  one  of  your  letters  now  before  me  you  indicate  and  defend 
in  the  strongest  terms  the  very  position  the  South  has  assumed. 
Your  countenance  of  the  Government  is  less  strange  than  the  rest 
for  you  are  peculiarly  situated  and  in  your  heart  cannot  bless 
this  war  upon  us. 

While  it  is  entirely  possible  that  Buchanan  may  have  remarked 
as  stated,  I  have  only  thus  far  found  citations  where  he  stated 
such  a  possibility  as  an  inevitable  and  deplorable  result  rather  than 
with  approbation. 

Again,  in  1857,  after  the  Dred  Scott  case  and  during  the  time 
his  foes  were  harrying  him  over  Kansas,  a  Virginian  politician, 
Colonel  Parker,  quotes  him  as  saying : 27 

"If  the  Personal  Liberty  laws  are  not  repealed  in  the  North, 
the  South  will  have  a  right  to  secede  and  ought  to  secede." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  neither  of  these  cases  is  a  legal  right 
discussed.  Also,  it  has  been  noted  that  in  the  middle  of  No- 
vember, Buchanan  already  made  practically  the  same  statement 
that  he  made  in  his  message.  Whether  or  not  Buchanan  did 
admit  a  legal  right  to  secede  before  he  became  President  is  very 
doubtful,  but  not  absolutely  impossible.  In  either  case  the  fact 
remains  that  he  did  not  consider  Lincoln's  election  a  valid  cause 
and  that  fact  left  no  doubt  of  his  stand  in  1860-1861. 

The  President  also  reviewed  the  nature  of  his  functions  in  the 
crisis.  Like  everything  else,  he  construed  the  Militia  Acts  of 
1795  and  1807  strictly.  Lincoln,  at  a  later  date,  pulled  them  into 
ludicrious  shape  to  give  his  own  acts  the  color  of  legality.  For 
some  weeks  Mr.  Lincoln,  like  Buchanan,  did  not  try  to  execute 
the  law  where  "  the  entire  population  would  constitute  one  solid 

25  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  91-92. 

26  Bowen,  of  Baltimore,  to  Buchanan,  April  17,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

27  Virginia  Magazine  of  History,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  85. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  145 

combination  to  resist  him  [a  Federal  officer]."  Such  a  matter  has 
been  covered  in  speaking  of  Black's  opinion.  According  to  the 
ideas  of  the  time,  it  would  have  been  unconstitutional.  But  Bu- 
chanan gave  Congress  plenty  of  opportunity  to  pass  new  laws  to 
give  ample  force  to  such  portions  of  the  Constitution.  He  an- 
nounced his  policy  concerning  the  forts,  etc.,  which  he  maintained 
to  the  end.  The  declaration  that  he  had  no  power  to  recognize 
any  change  in  State  status  in  its  relation  to  the  general  government, 
saying  that  such  power  belonged  to  Congress  alone,  convinced 
many  that  he  intended  to  take  no  steps  toward  secession.  It  was 
also  bound  to  discourage  those  who  hoped  he  would  advise 
recognition. 

Upon  the  subject  of  coercion  of  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union, 
Buchanan  displayed  thorough  knowledge  and  marked  ability.  He 
declared  it  was  not  in  the  delegated  powers,  and  had  been  refused 
by  the  convention.  Madison  was  cited  as  the  chief  support,  but 
a  host  of  others  could  have  been  found  in  the  ratifying  conventions 
to  the  same  effect.  In  such  a  war,  he  said,  the  Union  was  bound 
to  be  destroyed  because  the  seceding  States,  if  defeated,  would 
afterward  be  held  as  provinces.  This  was  a  foreshadowing  of 
Stevens'  theory  of  reconstruction.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
certain  Republicans  spoke  of  the  Constitution  being  destroyed  by 
Civil  War.  The  truth  is  that  the  old  Union  died.  The  new 
political  philosophy  plus  the  use  of  text-books  after  the  war 
altered  the  nature  of  the  Union. 

Even  on  the  ground  of  expediency,  war  would  be  undesirable. 
The  President  pointed  out  that  in  such  a  case  peaceable  recon- 
struction would  be  impossible.  He  then  stated  the  creed  of  his 
heart,  which  was  truly  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  things  since 
the  beginning  of  the  Constitution: 

Our  Union  rests  upon  public  opinion,  and  can  never  be  cemented 
by  the  blood  of  its  citizens  shed  in  civil  war.  If  it  cannot  live  on 
the  affections  of  the  people,  it  must  one  day  perish.  Congress 
possesses  many  means  of  preserving  it  by  conciliation;  but  the 
sword  was  not  placed  in  their  hand  to  preserve  it  by  force.28 

28  The  following  interesting  note  is  from  the  pen  of  an  authoritative 
writer  of  the  present  day : 
"...  The  difficulty  of  controlling  by  force  the  will  of  the  people  of  a 


146         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

While  this  might  be  a  confession  of  his  faith,  as  head  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  he  had  to  curtail  his  ideas,  and  make  a  consist- 
ency with  the  other  portions  of  his  message.  Besides,  he  never 
held  the  idea  of  permanent  separation  or  independence  of  the 
Southern  States.  Some  new  form  of  agreement  ought  to  be 
reached.  To  this  end  he  suggested  Congressional  amendments  as 
the  means  to  save  the  Union.  These  would,  at  this  point,  have 
been  along  the  line  of  the  Dred  Scott  case.  In  his  message  of 
January  the  8th  he  went  back  to  his  favorite  idea  of  a  compromise 
line. 

A  digest  of  the  policy  which  the  Administration  had  decided 
upon  appears  to  be  as  follows: 

Secession  is  a  nullity,  but  it  is  one  of  those  State  acts  for 
which  the  Constitution  does  not  provide  a  punishment.  It  is  an 
act  outside  the  sphere  of  Federal  authority.  When,  however,  any 
delusioned  individual  does  an  act  which  violates  a  Federal  law,  he 
may  be  resisted  or  punished,  provided  Congress  supplies  the  means. 

The  founders  never  intended  to  coerce  a  State  or  the  people  of  a 
State  organized  as  such.  Such  acts  by  them  are  nullities,  to  be  ig- 
nored. The  legal  relationship  of  the  States  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment was  intended  to  be  perpetual.  A  State  cannot  authorize 
an  individual  to  commit  an  act  against  Federal  law  which  she  has 
once  promised  to  uphold.  As  long,  then,  as  the  two  spheres  did 
not  conflict,  a  clash  could  be  avoided.    t 

The  criticism  of  the  theory  would  be  this : 

Admitting  that  the  Union  was  intended  to  be  perpetual,  yet  so 
were  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  By  refusing  to  coerce  the 
people  of  a  State  by  force,  the  Fathers  really  prepared  the  way  for 
a  peaceful  revolution.  The  revolution  of  1789  was  peaceful,  the 
new  government  was  an  experiment  based  on  consent  of  the 
people  of  thirteen  units  acting  as  thirteen  units.  While  one  of 
these  units  could  not  legally  withdraw  her  consent,  she  could  not 
have  force  brought  to  bear  against  her  for  the  act.  Nor  could 
individuals  be  punished  for  acting  by  express  authority  of  the 

State  so  as  to  compel  them  to  elect  Senators  and  Representatives  and 
perform  various  other  obligations  to  the  Union  remains  unsolved  by  any 
constitutional  provision." — John  Bassett  Moore,  "Four  Phases  of  Ameri- 
can Development,"  pp.  114-115,  Baltimore,  1912. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1860-1861  147 

agents  (e.g.  State  Government)  carrying  out  the  will  of  the 
organized  people  of  a  State.  Black  practically  admitted  this 
principle  when  he  said  it  was  his  private  opinion  they  could  not 
punish  a  man  for  granting  clearance  papers  at  State  orders. 28a 

The  Supreme  law  clause  was  not  endowed  with  the  right  to 
force  the  people  of  a  State.  It  could  not  transcend  the  Constitu- 
tion. It  was  no  more  than  a  treaty  clause  and  only  applied  to 
delegated  or  specific  powers.  This  was  the  Southern  and  Demo- 
cratic idea  of  the  time.29 

The  Administration  had  decided  on  the  theory  of  its  policy,  and 
prepared  to  carry  it  out. 

The  effects  of  the  message  were  diverse.  The  radical  Re- 
publicans, who  were  hot  for  blood-letting,  were  hostile  to  it. 
Some  ridiculed  it.  It  marked  the  parting  of  the  ways  with  some 
of  the  Southern  Senators,  because  it  did  not  admit  the  legal  right 
of  secession,  and  showed  them  any  interference  with  Federal 
property  was  liable  to  cause  trouble.  If  Buchanan  had  to  hear 
the  disapproval  of  the  enemy  press  and  Southern  Senators,  he  had 
the  consolation  of  seeing  his  policy  endorsed  by  many  in  the 
border  States  and  by  conservatives  and  moderates  everywhere. 

Any  reader  may  find  in  Miss  Scrugham's  "  Peaceable  Ameri- 
cans," 30  or  Coleman's  "  Life  of  Crittenden  "  31  plenty  of  evidence 

28a  Since  the  Civil  War  the  States  have  been  prostrated  and  this  doctrine 
tamely  surrendered.  The  States  are  now  as  powerless  as  a  collection  of 
jelly  fish. 

29  The  remainder  of  the  message  found  foreign  affairs  in  the  main 
satisfactory.  Mexico  was  still  insulting  in  her  manners.  Cuba  was  a 
desirable  purchase ;  Kansas  had  at  last  been  settled  except  that  it  was  now 
in  need  of  aid,  due  to  famine;  peace  reigned  in  Utah,  and  the  President 
argued  for  specific  duties  in  the  tariff. 

30  "  Peaceable  Americans,"  New  York,  1922. 

31  Coleman's  "  Life  of  Crittenden,"  Vol.  II,  Philadelphia,  1871.  Watson, 
"  Life  in  the  Confederate  Army,"  pp.  81-89. 

Buchanan  and  Jackson:  To  the  cry  copied  in  our  day  in  text  books,  "  Oh, 
for  an  hour  of  Jackson !  "  uttered  by  a  class  of  people  whose  love  of  power 
desires  to  brush  aside  all  constitutional  guarantees,  Mr.  Buchanan  gave  a 
vigorous  and  pointed  answer  in  his  reply  to  the  libels  of  General  Scott  in 
1862. 

"  The  General's  supplementary  note  of  the  same  day,  presenting  to  me 
General  Jackson's  conduct  in  1833,  during  the  period  of  nullification,  as  an 


148         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

of  the  compromise  feeling  of  the  time.  In  the  Gulf  States  some 
of  the  Union  minority  wanted  action,  but  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
and  Virginia,  while  almost  solid  against  coercion,  were  yet  favor- 
able for  compromise.  Lincoln  drove  North  Carolina,  Virginia, 
Arkansas,  out  of  the  Union.  Maryland  sent  many  of  her  sons 
South.  Missouri  was  held  by  the  Germans;  and  Kentucky  de- 
sired to  be  neutral.  The  resources  of  those  States  who  finally 
left  the  Union  were  a  great  aid  to  the  Southern  cause.  Such  were 
the  results  of  what  was  regarded  as  coercion.  Seward  and  Bu- 
chanan were  both  of  the  same  mind  in  opposing  coercion,  and  I 
believe  Seward  could  have  solved  it  far  more  satisfactorily  than 
the  more  radical  Republicans. 

example,  requires  no  notice.  Even  if  the  cases  were  not  entirely  different  I 
had  previously  determined  on  a  policy  of  my  own,  as  will  appear  from  my 
annual  message." — Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  284. 

Curtis  has  thoroughly  and  ably  treated  the  legal  aspects  of  the  topic. — 
See  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  47-48. 

A  few  words  may  be  added  of  psychological  difference.  While  I  have 
seen  statements  of  Buchanan's,  admiring  Jackson's  will  power  and  sagacity 
in  feeling  the  public  pulse,  I  have  never  seen  any  tribute  of  his  to  Jackson's 
legal  ability  or  intellectual  powers.  Anybody  who  cares  to  admit  it  knows 
that  Jackson's  attitude  toward  South  Carolina  was  largely  due  to  what  he 
thought  was  a  conspiracy  against  him  by  Calhoun.  Backed  by  a  cabinet  of 
ex-Federalists,  his  actions  were  those  of  a  South  American  dictator  rather 
than  a  constitutional  official.  It  is  also  well  known  that  many  of  his  party 
disapproved  of  this  procedure.  Jackson's  farewell  message,  used  by  Bu- 
chanan in  his  book,  breathes  a  very  different  spirit.  His  first  work  was 
largely  that  of  Livingston  and  his  second  that  of  Taney  who  had  embraced 
State  Rights.  In  fighting  South  Carolina  Jackson  thought  he  was  killing 
a  rebellious  enemy.  In  1861  Buchanan  at  the  start  had  looked  to  most  of 
the  Northern  group  to  aid  him  in  keeping  the  peace  and  keep  off  attacks  on 
his  Administration  from  the  ultra-Republicans.  The  personal  political  situa- 
tion in  the  two  cases  as  well  as  the  public  state  of  mind  was  very  different. 

It  might  also  be  added  that  in  the  oft-quoted  letter  of  Jackson  to  Bu- 
chanan on  Nullification  he  spoke  of  the  Union  as  a  confederacy.  Buchanan 
was  not  a  disciple  of  the  Nullification  theory  which  was  not  identical  with 
Secession.  The  chief  remark  of  approval  of  Jackson  was  a  statement  in 
his  farewell  address  in  which  he  stated  it  was  futile  to  think  that  the  Union 
could  be  held  together  by  force  alone. — Statesmen's  Manual,  p.  151.  The 
Jackson  proclamation  of  1833  was  composed  by  the  anti-States  Right  man, 
Livingston.  The  one  here  quoted  was  largely  the  work  of  Taney,  who  had 
been  converted  to  it. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  149 

It  has  already  been  indicated  that  the  problem  of  preparing  the 
message  was  involved  with  that  of  Fort  Sumter.  Floyd  was 
firmly  against  the  idea  of  coercion,  and  also  believed  if  a  gloved 
hand  were  used,  things  would  turn  out  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Administration  and  the  State.  He  had  been  a  student  of  the 
University  of  South  Carolina,  and  knew  conditions  in  that  region. 
Cass  and  Black,  on  the  other  hand,  were  always  urging  reinforce- 
ments. We  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  Buchanan  was 
going  over  the  matter  with  Floyd  since  early  November  (see  diary 
above). 

Towards  the  last  of  November  the  President  became  uneasy 
lest  some  effort  would  be  made  to  seize  the  forts,  and,  according 
to  Trescot,  Floyd  had  moments  of  unrest  himself.  The  follow- 
ing interview,  reported  by  Floyd,  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  as  to 
the  President's  determination  not  to  hand  over  the  forts.32 

32  Trescot's  Narrative,  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  XIII. 

Value  of  Trescot's  Narrative:  Some  of  this  work  is  very  valuable ;  some 
is  misleading.  Trescot  favored  Secession  at  an  early  date  and  therefore 
lost  such  confidence  of  Buchanan  which  he  may  have  had.  The  actual  events 
in  which  he  participated  are  valuable  account.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  his 
interest  to  make  the  most  of  the  pledge  idea  although  he  understood  the 
President's  difficulties.  His  inferences  on  the  details  on  the  "  cabinet  crisis  " 
are  incorrect  because  he  was  not  told  just  what  did  happen.  He  utterly 
lacked  the  ability  to  see  the  humane  side  of  Buchanan's  character,  and  his 
work  suffers  as  a  result.  Some  other  criticisms  of  Chauncey  Black  and 
Holt  on  Crawford's  "  Fort  Sumter  "  are  inserted  here  as  they  are  really  on 
his  narrative  which  Crawford  used.  In  short,  some  of  Trescot's  inferences 
are  erroneous  while  his  account  of  participation,  with  due  allowance  for  his 
secession  feelings,  may  be  regarded  as  valuable  contributions  to  the  period. 

u  Of  course  Mr.  Trescot's  account  of  my  father's  position  in  the  Cabinet 
discussions  is  perfectly  conscientious.  But  I  think  it  is  all  wrong.  The 
President  complained  that  his  views  were  too  political  and  not  sufficiently 
legal  and  technical.  But  I  prefer  that  Father  should  state  it  for  himself." — 
From  Chauncey  Black  to  Samuel  W.  Crawford,  Crawford  Papers,  L.   C. 

Two  letters  from  Holt  (July  25  and  December  28,  1885)  contain  the  fol- 
lowing remarks : 

Speaking  of  the  reason  for  his  appointment,  Holt  said : 

"  While  I  have  never  doubted  but  that  the  preparation  of  the  paper  re- 
ferred to  led  to  my  appointment  as  Post  Master  General,  I  do  not  know 
it  as  a  fact." 

(This,  of  course,  was  not  Thompson's  version  of  the  matter.)  He  thought 
that  Crawford  was  too  severe  on  Buchanan. 

11 


150         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Some  time,  probably  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  the  follow- 
ing discussion  took  place  between  Floyd  and  the  President : 33 

"  Mr.  Floyd,  are  you  going  to  send  recruits  to  Charleston  to 
strengthen  the  forts?  What  about  sending  reinforcements  to 
Charleston  ?  " 

I  was  taken  very  much  by  surprise  to  find  the  President  making 
this  inquiry,  indicating  to  my  mind  a  change  of  policy  on  his  part. 

I  said :  "  Mr.  President,  nothing  about  sending  recruits  to 
Charleston." 

"  Don't  you "  said  he,  "  intend  to  strengthen  the  forts  at 
Charleston  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  intend  to  strengthen  the  forts  at  Charleston." 

Says  he :  "  Mr.  Floyd,  I  would  rather  be  in  the  bottom  of  the 
Potomac  tomorrow  than  that  these  forts  in  Charleston  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  intend  to  take  them.  It  will  destroy 
me,  sir." 

And  said  he:  "Mr.  Floyd,  if  that  thing  occurs  it  will  cover 
your  name — and  it  is  an  honorable  name,  sir — with  an  infamy 
that  all  time  can  never  efface,  because  it  is  in  vain  that  you  will 
attempt  to  show  that  you  have  not  some  complicity  in  handing 
over  those  forts  to  those  who  take  them." 

Floyd  said  he  would  risk  his  life  and  his  honor  on  the  declara- 
tions of  the  South  Carolinians  that  they  would  not  be  touched. 

He  said  to  me :  "  That  is  all  very  well  but  pardon  me  for  ask- 
ing you,  does  that  secure  the  forts  ?  "  I  said,  "  No,  sir ;  but  it  is 
a  guarantee  that  I  am  in  earnest  in  the  belief  that  I  expressed  to 
you  that  the  forts  are  secure." 

Said  he :    "I  am  not  satisfied." 

Floyd  said  he  was  sorry  for  it.  He  offered  to  make  out  orders, 
but  said  it  would  mean  conflict.  He  said  the  forts  would  be 
safe;  the  State  would  send  her  Commissioners  to  Congress,  and 

"  I  suppose  that  by  this  time  your  book  is  in  preparation,  &  that  of  course 
the  questions  of  which  we  conversed  last  summer  have  been  settled,  I  refer 
particularity  to  the  atrocious  calumny  reported  to  you  by  Trescot,  which 
represented  certain  members  of  his  Cabinet  as  having  attempted  to  bull 
doze  President  Buchanan  in  a  most  insulting  manner.  .  .  ." 

33  Abridged  from  Floyd's  somewhat  florid  speech  at  Richmond,  1861.  New 
York  Herald,  January  17,  1861.     Part  also  in  the  Times. 

This  speech  has  been  much  libelled  by  Northern  writers. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  151 

that  body  could  decide  what  to  do.  Floyd  said  that  he  would 
resign  if  Congress  decided  on  coercion. 

Buchanan  finally  agreed  to  see  what  General  Scott  would  ad- 
vise, and  that  ancient  authority  on  the  art  of  war  was  telegraphed 
to  come  from  the  West  to  the  Capital  at  once.34 

This  conversation  so  excited  Floyd  that  he  sent  for  Davis, 
Mason,  and  Hunter  to  come  up  earlier  than  usual  to  Washington 
to  assure  Buchanan  there  was  no  danger  to  the  forts.35  Davis, 
while  rinding  Buchanan  concurring  with  some  of  his  views,  was 
not  at  all  successful  in  persuading  him  to  take  the  troops  out  of 
the  harbor. 

Most  people  have  probably  forgotten  that  the  sites  of  the  Fed- 
eral forts  at  Charleston,  and  in  some  other  places  as  well,  were 
held  on  the  basis  of  contract  or  conditional  cession  from  the 
State  to  the  Federal  Government.36  Up  to  a  certain  point  the 
Administration  and  the  State  were  agreed  of  the  status.  Davis 
says : 37 

Mr.  Buchanan,  the  last  President  of  the  old  school,  would  as 
soon  have  thought  of  aiding  in  the  establishment  of  a  monarchy 
among  us  as  of  accepting  the  doctrine  of  coercing  a  State  into 
submission  to  the  will  of  a  majority,  in  mass,  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  When  discussing  the  question  of  withdrawing 
the  troops  from  Charleston,  he  yielded  ready  assent  to  the  propo- 
sition that  the  cession  of  a  site  for  a  fort,  for  purposes,  lapses, 
whenever  that  fort  should  be  employed  by  the  grantee  against 
the  State  by  which  the  cession  was  made,  on  the  familiar  principle 
that  any  grant  for  a  specific  purpose  expires  when  it  ceases  to  be 
used  for  that  purpose. 

Upon  another  statement  of  the  case,  the  Federal  government 
was  entirely  incorrect.  This  was  due  to  Black.  Buchanan  ac- 
cepted it,  and  the  Southerners  were  quick  to  point  out  the  error  in 
the  matter.  Black  said  that  the  Federal  government  had  pur- 
chased the  Federal  property  and  owned  it  outright.  As  has  been 
shown  above,  such  were  not  the   facts  in  the  case.     The  only 

34  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  28. 

35  Floyd's  speech  at  Richmond,  New  York  Herald,  January  17,  1861. 

36  For  a  brief  account  see  Davis,  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  Confederacy,"  Vol.  I, 
pp.  209-212. 

37  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  216-217. 


152         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

things  the  Federal  Government  owned  were  the  improvements 
they  had  made  on  the  sites. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  Buchanan  considered  Secession  a  nullity, 
there  was  no  reason  for  his  giving  up  the  forts  as  far  as  he  was 
concerned. 

The  Southerners  then  said  that  if  he  was  only  keeping  them 
as  property,  then,  why  garrison  them,  when  a  garrison  only 
frightened  the  people?  To  this  argument  there  was  reason,  for 
while  the  States  could  not  claim  the  right  to  have  the  forts  re- 
turned, it  was  very  evident  that  the  forts  were  intended  to  be 
used  against  foreign  aggression  alone,  and  not  under  any  circum- 
stances by  the  Federal  government  against  themselves. 

Buchanan  would  have  been  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  have 
voluntarily  given  up  the  forts  without  the  authority  of  Congress. 
No  Democratic  President  from  the  North  could  have  dreamed 
of  such  a  thing  in  the  face  of  the  powerful  political  consequences. 
From  the  beginning  it  was  evident  to  Black  and  Buchanan  that 
the  forts  were  a  sort  of  a  test  case  in  which  the  whole  future 
trend  of  events  and  the  fate  of  the  Administration  were  involved. 

The  President  determined  to  present  the  matter  of  the  status 
of  the  property  to  Congress.38  He  was  firmly  convinced  that 
peaceful  measures  alone  would  localize  the  conflict,  and  felt  it  his 
duty  to  give  them  a  peaceful  direction.  With  the  slender  re- 
sources at  his  command,  limited  by  the  legal  perogatives  of  his 
office,  he  felt  unable  to  conduct  a  war  without  a  united  North  and 
a  Congress  willing  to  co-operate  without  limit. 

To  adjust  this  matter,  four  of  the  members  of  Congress  of 
South  Carolina  sought  an  interview  before  the  State  actually 
seceded.  They  interviewed  the  President  on  December  8th  and 
the  ioth.  On  these  occasions  he  only  received  them  as  private 
gentlemen.  His  regard  of  his  Constitutional  powers  and  proper 
limitations  were  always  carefully  observed.  At  a  later  date  the 
South  Carolinians  found  it  to  their  advantage  to  take  the  posi- 
tion that  Buchanan  had  given  a  pledge  not  to  disturb  the  status 
quo.  Such  a  thing  he  never  intended  in  the  sense  of  later  ac- 
cusation. Practically  everyone  has  now  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  no  legal  or  formal  pledging  was  undertaken.     Even  the  South 

38  For  full  account  of  Buchanan's  attitude  in  February,  see  below. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1860-1 86 1  153 

Carolinians  seem  to  have  admitted  it  at  the  time.  The  statement 
of  the  gentlemen  is  merely  an  expression  of  strong  conviction  and, 
as  they  were  not  received  in  a  legal  capacity,  it  need  not  have  been 
considered  as  in  any  sense  binding  on  them.39 

What  Buchanan  probably  intended  was  to  lay  his  policy  before 
them  and  carry  it  out,  provided  he  knew  in  advance  what  they 
intended  to  do.  His  aim  was  in  every  way  laudable.  It  was  to 
localize  the  disturbance  and  give  time  for  Congress  to  act,  or  have 
public  opinion  in  the  other  States  bring  moral  pressure  to  bear  on 
South  Carolina  until  some  reconciliation  should  be  reached.  He 
never  had  any  intention  of  so  binding  himself  that  he  would  not 
be  free  to  act  in  any  unforseen  circumstance.  He  was  under 
oath  to  preserve  the  Constitution  as  he  understood  it,  and  his 
annual  message  showed  that  he  did  not  intend  to  surrender  the 
forts.  He  considered  himself  morally  bound  all  the  way  through 
to  do  all  he  could  to  avert  a  crash  that  would  wreck  the  Union. 
It  was  directly  in  line  with  his  efforts  in  sending  Cushing  upon  the 
18th  to  South  Carolina  to  try  to  keep  things  as  they  were  until 
some  overt  act  should  be  committed  by  the  Federal  Government.40 
But  he  did  not  change  his  mind.41 

Anderson's  move  was  wholly  unexpected,  and  brought  a  bale- 
ful chain  of  circumstances.  Had  Buchanan  restored  the  status 
he  would  have  broken  up  his  own  government.  Even  Trescot,42 
who  was  a  Secessionist,  saw  the  President's  position  in  this  light. 
His  duty  to  keep  his  government  afloat  was  certainly  paramount 
to  his  policy  on  the  status  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  Harbour. 

Pickens,  elected  Governor  of  South  Carolina  just  before  the 
State  seceded,  in  order  to  put  a  halo  on  his  head  before  his  people, 
sent  Colonel  Hayne  with  a  letter  to  the  President.  Trescot 
found  out  what  the  letter  was  in  advance,  and  told  Buchanan. 
The  President  asked  for  more  time  than  overnight  to  answer 
(the  indecent  haste  of  Pickens  is  manifest)  it,  and  Hayne  con- 

39  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  377. 

40  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  pp.  87--88.  This  mission  failed.  Upon 
Cushing's  return,  the  Cabinet  met,  but  I  have  no  account  of  it.  Buchanan 
and  Cushing  were  agreed  on  the  main  lines  of  policy. 

41  Crawford,  ibid.,  p.  39. 

«  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  553- 


154         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

sented  to  wait  until  the  next  evening.  Trescot,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  Slidell  and  Mason,  telegraphed  to  Pickens,  and  the  letter 
was  withdrawn,  much  to  the  President's  satisfaction.43 

The  President  had,  however,  drafted  a  reply44  in  which  he 
firmly  stated  that  Congress  alone  could  act  on  his  requests ;  that 
he  had  no  power  to  hand  over  Fort  Sumter,  and  warned  the  Gov- 
ernor that  an  attack  on  the  forts  would  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
conflict.  The  act  of  one  independent  government  seizing  the 
property  of  another  would  be,  he  declared,  always  considered  a 
just  cause  for  hostilities.  It  will  be  noted  that  both  the  State 
and  Federal  governments  were  regarded  as  practically  independ- 
ent of  each  other,  so  that  statement  conveys  no  idea  of  recogni- 
tion. 

A  new  twist  was  now  about  to  take  place,  as  South  Carolina 
had  determined  on  secession. 

The  resignation  of  Cass,  who  differed  with  the  President  on 
his  Sumter  policy,  has  been  reviewed  above.  Sufficient  to  say 
here,  that  the  opportunity  it  gave  to  the  President's  enemies  to 
increase  their  propaganda  against  him  in  the  North,  was  not  lost 
on  the  President.  He  gave  it  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  not  tak- 
ing Cass  back,  saying  all  the  world  knew  of  his  resignation.  The 
whole  incident  made  him  wary.  Perhaps  it  increased  his  tend- 
ency not  to  confide  in  his  Cabinet  too  much,  so  as  to  prevent  their 
resigning  for  political  reasons.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  the 
Cass  incident  may  have  reacted  on  the  "  Black  crisis,"  and  have 
aided  in  securing  Black's  retention.  Still,  the  friendship  of  the 
two  men  was  probably  the  strongest  link. 

When  Buchanan  first  received  the  news  of  the  secession  of 
South  Carolina,  he  was  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Parker,  to  attend 
the  wedding  of  his  daughter  to  Mr.  Bouligny  of  Louisiana.  It 
was  a  very  Southern  affair.     On  the  same  day  he  had  written  a 

«  A.  H.  A.,  Vol.  XIII,  pp.  541,  542. 

4*  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  384,  385- 

The  content  of  this  reply  shows  that  whatever  he  said  on  the  tenth  was 
not  intended  to  hamper  his  carrying  out  necessary  means  to  secure  the  fort. 

Holt  regarded  Anderson  as  under  an  implied  pledge  to  act  on  the  defensive 
as  outlined  in  Buchanan's  letter  to  Hayne  (January).  But  he  was  sup- 
posed to  use  his  own  judgment  in  repelling  attack. — Holt  letter,  February 
23,  1861;  also  in  the  Anderson  Papers;  Crawford,  "Fort  Sumter,"  p.  294. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  155 

letter  to  Bennett  for  the  Herald,  stating  he  was  in  the  best  of 
health,  because  the  Tribune  had  featured  a  headliner  on  the  17th 
declaring  him  to  be  insane.  Inquiring  about  a  commotion  that 
occurred  in  the  hall  after  the  marriage  ceremony,  Buchanan  was 
informed  by  Mrs.  Roger  Pryor  (Virginia)  that  South  Carolina 
had  seceded.  Stunned  for  a  moment,  he  sat  down  in  his  chair, 
but  his  prudence  stood  him  in  good  stead.  He  asked  for  his 
carriage,  and  went  home  before  committing  himself,  or  stopping 
to  be  questioned.  There  he  awaited  the  official  information, 
which  came  some  hours  later.45 

On  the  same  day  he  drew  up  his  reply  to  Governor  Pickens* 
letter  asking  the  surrender  of  the  fort, — a  letter  that  had  been 
written  on  the  17th.  Buchanan  vigorously  and  ably  set  forth  his 
prerogatives,  stating  he  had  no  authority  to  make  any  such  ar- 
rangement, and  warning  the  Governor  that  an  attack  on  the  forts 
would  mark  the  beginning  of  a  civil  war.  The  letter  of  Pickens, 
owing  to  the  advice  from  Davis  and  Slidell,  was  withheld.46 

The  22d  and  23d  set  the  Cabinet  and  the  country  in  a  whirl  by 
the  Stolen  Bonds  episode.47  This  was  the  second  of  the  intense 
problems  for  the  Administration. 

Hardly  had  the  news  of  Cass'  resignation  been  noised  through 
the  country,  when  all  eyes  were  again  turned  to  Fort  Sumter  and 
Major  Anderson.  He  had  been  especially  selected  by  Floyd,  be- 
cause of  his  coolness  and  judgment,  to  replace  Gardiner  at  Sum- 
ter when  clouds  appeared  on  the  horizon.  A  man  of  high  honor, 
bravery,  and  ability,  he  saw  the  difficulties  in  his  situation,  and 
strongly  felt  the  responsibilities  upon  him.  He  seems  to  have 
understood  his  position  better  than  Black,  who  seems  only  to 
have  comprehended  the  fact  that  Northern  public  opinion  desired 
the  forts  to  be  held,  and  discounted  Southern  feeling.  About 
November,  Anderson  wrote  to  the  Department : 48 

I  will  thank  the  Department  to  give  me  special  instructions  as 
my  position  here  is  rather  a  political  than  a  military  one. 

45  Mrs.  R.  A.  Pryor,  "Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War,"  pp.  110-114. 
«  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  384-385. 

On  the  24th-25th  Pittsburgh  became  excited  over  the  shipment  of  the 
cannon. 

47  See  above  on  Floyd. 

48  Answer  to  a  letter  of  the  23d  of  November  from  Washington. 


156         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

In  the  main  he  was  like  Buchanan  and,  like  him,  believed  it  was 
his  duty  to  forbear.49     As  he  wrote  to  Pickens : 

You  know,  Governor.     My  heart  was  never  in  this  war.50 

A  letter  after  his  removal  to  Sumter  reveals  similar  statements. 
The  following  is  taken  from  the  copy  sent  to  Buchanan : 

W.  A.  Gorden,  Esq.,  Jan.  ii,  1861. 

Washington,  D.  C.  Fort  Sumter, 

My  dear  Sir  : 

Indeed  you  are  right — a  cheering  word  from  an  old  friend  is 
most  acceptable  and  goes  direct  to  the  heart.  Like  yourself,  my 
sympathies  are  in  the  matter  of  the  sectional  controversy  all  with 
the  South,  but  I  must  confess  that  I  have  lost  all  sympathy  with 
the  people  who  govern  this  State.  They  are  resolved  to  com- 
mence their  secession  with  blood.  I  shall  do  all  that  I  can  with 
honor  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  so  sad  an  event — but  fear  that 
all  will  be  of  no  avail. 

This  morning  they  sank  three  vessels  in  the  main  entrance  to 
this  harbor.  Their  folly  has  closed  their  ports  to  the  commerce 
of  the  world — and  they  now  hope  to  keep  the  Government  from 
sending  reinforcements  to  me.  Little  do  they  know  of  the  power 
of  the  General  Government  if  it  be  compelled  to  resort  to  it. 
Until  they  fired  on  the  U.  S.  flag  day  before  yesterday,  I  had 
hoped  that  the  Government  would  settle  the  matter  without  a 
resort  to  arms — but  now,  unless  some  mediation  takes  place,  I  do 
not  see  how  a  conflict  can  be  avoided. 

I  have  had  a  great  deal  of  work  to  do  since  I  came  into  the 
Fort  to  put  it  in  condition  for  defence.  I  am  today  mounting 
some  of  my  best  guns,  and  if  I  have  a  few  days  more,  hope,  by 
God's  blessings  to  be  prepared  for  any  force  they  may  bring 
against  me.  My  force  is  only  about  Yz  of  what  it  ought  to  be, 
and  I  am  therefore  compelled  to  arrange  everything  so  as  to 
make  the  best  use  for  it. 

Trusting  that  God  will  guide  me  in  my  duty  to  him  and  to  my 
beloved  country,  I  am  sincerely,  your  friend, 

Robert  Anderson. 

49  E.g.,  "  Trusting  in  God  that  nothing  will  occur  to  array  a  greater  num- 
ber of  states  than  have  already  taken  ground  against  the  general  govern- 
ment."— January  6,  1861,  Anderson  Papers,  L.  C. 

r'°  Abner  Doubleday,  "  Forts  Sumter  and  Moultrie,"  New  York,  1876. 

Mrs.  Anderson,  although  a  Southerner,  was  much  opposed  to  South  Caro- 
lina. She  continually  harassed  Buchanan  to  aid  Anderson. — E.g.,  Letter, 
December  3,  i860,  Mrs.  Anderson  to  Buchanan,  H.  S.  P. 


BUCHANANS  POLICY,  1 860-1861  157 

It  is  very  difficult  to  see  where  Anderson  received  any  definite 
evidence  50a  that  any  attack  was  to  be  made  prior  to  his  removal 
to  Sumter.  However,  it  was  a  perfectly  natural  act  for  a  man 
who  had  been  for  some  days  in  a  harrassing  situation  of  responsi- 
bility, not  only  for  the  property,  but  for  the  men  in  his  command. 
Even  those  who  disagree  with  his  course  cannot  condemn  him 
for  taking  it.  Having  what  he  regarded  general  orders,  and  see- 
ing indications  that  he  construed  as  a  menace,  he  took  the  only 
course  possible  from  his  point  of  view.  On  the  other  hand,  this 
course  probably  tended  to  discredit  the  policy  of  the  commis- 
sioners in  the  eyes  of  their  friends,  and  they  naturally  blamed 
Buchanan,  who  had  acted  without  guile  in  the  whole  matter. 
The  chain  of  events  seemed  to  make  for  misunderstanding.51  The 
only  real  encouragement  for  his  course  seemed  to  be  the  approval 
of  the  local  militia  officers  who  marched  into  Moultrie.52  This 
proves  nothing,  as  they  were  probably  looking  for  a  rupture,  and 
their  approval  may  have  been  based  on  the  fact  that  they  hoped  to 
bottle  Anderson  in.  The  conservatives  who  had  been  trying  to 
keep  the  peace  were  naturally  most  cast  down,  and  affairs  in 
Washington  became  very  critical.53  Anderson  received  many 
congratulatory  notes,54  some  in  response  to  his  own  anxious  in- 
quiry 55  as  to  whether  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  his  move. 

Floyd  was  greatly  surprised  to  hear  that  Anderson  had  gone 

50a  Even  Floyd  was  uneasy  over  a  possible  outbreak  and  mentioned  it  to 
Trescot.     See  A.  H.  R.,  April,  1908,  pp.  534-5. 

51  He  knew  of  no  intention  to  settle  the  matter  by  diplomacy,  and  declared 
even  if  a  pledge  had  existed  between  Floyd  and  the  Governor,  the  latter  had 
violated  it  in  making  use  of  armed  steamers  in  the  harbor. — See  Letter  Book, 
December  31,  i860:    to  War  Department,  L.  C. 

52  Anderson's  Letter  Book,  December  28,  i860:  Letter  to  War  Depart- 
ment, quoting  a  remark  of  Lieutenant  Hall  of  the  South  Carolina  militia. 

53  E.g.,  Robert  N.  Gourdin,  December  27,  i860:  Anderson  in  no  danger; 
the  State  was  pledged. 

54  Dix  to  Anderson,  January  21,  1861.  Winter  Davis  to  Anderson,  De- 
cember 31,  i860. 

55  Crittenden  to  Anderson,  February  18,  1861.  Strong  hopes  for  return 
of  the  States. — Anderson  Papers,  L.  C. 

The  letters  of  his  brother,  Larz  Anderson,  who  visited  both  Charleston 
and  Washington,  indicate  a  strong  hope  for  peace  if  reinforcements  would 
be  dispensed  with. — Anderson  Papers,  L.  C. 


158         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

to  Sumter.  He  telegraphed  Anderson  directly,  asking  him  for  an 
explanation.  The  President  first  heard  of  the  news  from  Davis, 
Hunter,  and  Trescot.  In  this  oft-quoted  interview  he  declared  the 
move  was  against  his  policy.  The  President  sent  for  Floyd,  who 
said  he  had  no  official  news.  General  Lane,  and  Senators  Bigler, 
Yulee,  and  Mallory  next  appeared  and  remonstrated  with  the 
President.  Slidell  late  in  the  day  was  authorized  to  telegraph 
that  Anderson  had  acted  against  his  orders,  but  he  refused  to  go 
a  step  further,  having  said  he  would  hear  Anderson's  side  and 
consult  with  his  Cabinet.56  Again  his  firmness  and  caution  saved 
the  day  for  himself,  for  if  he  had  promised  to  restore  Anderson, 
he  might  have  had  a  split  in  his  ministry  on  his  hands. 

Buchanan  called  his  Cabinet.  Buell  had  also  been  summoned, 
and  disagreed  with  Floyd  upon  the  merits  of  Anderson's  move 
while  they  were  in  the  hall  of  the  White  House.  Black  reviews 
this  Cabinet  meeting  as  follows : 

From  the  evening  of  the  27th  to  the  morning  of  the  31st,  three 
days  and  four  nights,  the  removal  of  Anderson  and  the  answer  to 
the  Commissioners  were  under  discussion.  The  Commissioners 
had  arrived  on  the  26th  and  news  of  Anderson's  removal  was  re- 
ceived on  the  morning  of  the  27th. 

That  morning  as  the  Cabinet  were  assembling  and  the  members 
were  dropping  in  one  by  one,  Mr.  Stanton  communicated  to  Judge 
Black  the  startling  intelligence  from  Anderson. 

"  Good,"  said  the  latter,  "  I  am  glad  of  it.  It  is  in  precise  ac- 
cordance with  his  orders."  "  It  is  not,"  said  Mr.  Floyd,  who 
besides  the  President  was  the  only  person  present.  "  But  it  is," 
retorted  Judge  Black.  "  I  recollect  the  orders  distinctly  word  for 
word."  The  President  feared  that  Mr.  Floyd  was  correct,  and 
Mr.  Stanton's  memory  was  not  clear.  Judge  Black  suggested  that 
the  orders  had  better  be  sent  for,  and  the  dispute  settled  at  once. 

Upon  inspection  they  fully  confirmed  his  statement,  and  left  the 
President  no  alternative  but  to  support  Anderson.  Mr.  Floyd 
alone  persisted  in  the  opposite.  .  .  . 

As  soon  as  the  Cabinet  was  formally  opened,  Floyd  read  his 
note57  in  a  discourteous  and  excited  tone  (which  has  been  con- 
sidered above).  The  Cabinet  divided  on  what  to  do  with  An- 
derson. 

56  Trescot's  Narrative,  A.  H.  R.,  Vol.  XIII,  pp.  544,  545- 

57  Floyd  resigned  on  the  29th. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  159 

Joseph  Baker,08  who  had  come  to  Washington  on  the  26th, 
remarks : 

...  it  [Anderson's  move]  called  forth  the  latent  differences  in  the 
cabinet  which  had  for  months  been  scattering  thorns  in  the  Presi- 
dent's path.  The  President  told  me  at  the  time  that  his  Cabinet 
troubles  gave  him  more  annoyance  than  the  political  situation  did. 
It  is  well  to  remember  that  whatever  act  originated  with  the 
President  was  contemptuously  discussed  by  both  extremists,  and 
even  the  dismissal  of  a  cabinet  officer  would  have  been  unfavor- 
ably construed  .  .  . 

Commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Federal  Government  had  been 
appointed  on  December  22d.  They  had  arrived  in  Washington 
on  the  26th,  but  had  postponed  their  interview  until  the  28th, 
when  they  were  courteously  received.  Finding  the  cabinet  divided 
upon  the  grave  problems  that  concerned  them,  they  were  in  a 
tense  mood.  They  presented  their  official  note  the  next  day, 
attempting  to  claim  that  the  President  was  violating  a  pledge, 
which  he  had  no  power  to  make,  and  which  had  not  been  at  first 
thus  intended.  They  also  stated  their  powers,  and  asked  for  the 
evacuation  of  Charleston  Harbor.  They  harassed  the  President 
for  two  hours  on  the  28th,  but  he  stood  by  his  position,  bidding 
them  look  to  Congress  for  relief.159 

The  Commissioners  repeatedly  pressed  the  President  for  the 
restoration  of  Anderson.  Buchanan  refused  to  commit  himself 
to  no  avail.     Finally  he  said : 

"  Mr.  Barnwell,  you  are  pressing  me  too  importunately ;  you 
don't  give  me  time  to  consider ;  you  don't  give  me  time  to  say  my 
prayers.  I  always  say  my  prayers  when  required  to  act  upon  any 
great  State  affair." 

Why  any  text  book  writer  should  have  the  callous  effrontary  to 
belittle  such  a  remark  is  nearly  beyond  comprehension.  There 
have  been  a  number  of  Presidents  who  felt  the  need  of  religion 
in  giving  consolation  to  their  responsibilities.  At  another  point 
the  very  devout  nature  of  Buchanan  will  be  noted.     Suffice  to 

58  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Philadelphia,  often  referred  to  as  one  of  Bu- 
chanan's few  confidants. — Part  of  article  in  Philadelphia  Press,  August  20, 
1881. 

59  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  pp.  146-160. 


160         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

say  here  that  he  believed  in  a  "  family  altar  " ;  that  he  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  reading  the  Bible  and  Jay's  Exercises  daily  for 
twelve  years  before  i86i.e0  He  used  the  expression  frequently 
when  he  was  hard  pressed  or  crowded  with  work.  Mrs.  Pryor 
mentions  it ; 61  it  appeared  in  a  book  published  in  1859,  and  written 
in  1859  in  which  the  President  had  used  it  before  1857,  referring 
to  the  rush  of  candidates  for  offices  and  the  cry  for  place ;  and  it 
was  written  by  Buchanan  himself  in  a  letter  to  Clarendon  on 
March  27,  1858.62  The  idea  that  the  President  was  starting  out 
on  a  new  road  at  this  point,  due  to  special  conditions,  is  a  miser- 
able falsity  born  of  mean  motives. 

Between  the  27th  and  the  30th,  the  President  sounded  public 
opinion  in  Washington  on  the  Sumter  issue.63  He  told  a  num- 
ber that  he  was  inclined  to  send  Anderson  back,  and  watched  the 
reactions.  In  nearly  all  cases  Northern  people  were  vigorously 
against  this  policy. 

Unknown  to  him,  Stanton,  Sickles,  and  others  had  created  an 
inflated  enthusiasm  by  telegraphing  politicians  in  the  different 
Northern  towns  to  fire  salutes,  have  parades,  and  send  congratu- 
latory telegrams  to  the  President  for  upholding  Anderson's 
course.64  As  a  result  the  President  received  many  such  missives 
sustaining  his  course,  or  rather  pointing  the  way  of  "  public  opin- 
ion." Among  the  more  belligerent  there  was  real  joy,  and  in 
some  localities  Anderson  became  the  hero  of  the  hour. 

Buchanan  was  beset  on  all  sides.  No  President  in  American 
history  ever  spent  so  terrible  a  ten  days.  All  things  seemed  to 
vanish  into  chaos.  Because  he  was  unwilling  and  too  perplexed 
to  heed  Judge  Campbell,  the  latter  wrote  to  Pierce  that  he  was 
unmanned;   and    scored   the   incapacity    of    Congress    as    well.65 

60  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  371-375. 

61  Pryor,  "  Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War,"  p.  56.  Mary  J.  Windle, 
"  Life  in  Washington,"  p.  143. 

62  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  199. 

63  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  pp.   146-150.     Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  371-375- 

64  E.  P.  Alexander,  "  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate,"  p.  11.  An  ex- 
cellent viewpoint.  Also  Lossing,  "  A  Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War," 
Philadelphia,  1866,  Vol.  I,  p.  285  note. 

65  To  Pierce,  December  29,  i860. — Pierce  Papers. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  161 

Others  said  worse  things,  but  through  it  all  the  President  kept 
the  keynote  of  his  policy, — the  prevention  of  civil  war, — believing 
and  hoping  that  the  darkest  hour  was  but  before  the  dawn  and, 
if  there  was  to  be  no  dawn,  to  keep  his  hands  free  of  the  blood 
of  his  countrymen.  Worried,  harassed,  he  performed  wonders 
of  labor,  and  in  the  words  of  the  historian  Lyon  G.  Tyler : 66 
"  Take  him  all  in  all,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  decidedly  the  most 
gentlemanly,  competent,  and  collected  officer  that  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  government  from  the  secession  of  South  Carolina  to 
the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter." 

On  the  evening  of  the  29th,  Buchanan  read  his  draft  to  the 
Cabinet  after  a  somewhat  spirited  session,  which  does  not,  how- 
ever, seem  to  have  made  much  impression  on  him  personally. 
Black  now  became  excited,  and  relates  the  following  bit  of  his- 
tory.67 

None  of  us  said  a  great  deal  about  it  [the  reply]  because  all 
of  us  knew  by  experience  that  when  Mr.  Buchanan  made  up  his 
mind  he  was  immovable.  No  man  ever  filled  the  Presidential 
office  who  knew  better  than  he  did  how  to  enforce  the  respect 
due  to  his  station  and  I  know  of  no  one  more  tenacious  of  his 
opinion  when  his  judgment  was  once  fixed.  He  was  absolute 
master  in  his  own  house.  Therefore  when  that  cabinet  adjourned, 
I  did  not  believe  it  possible  that  our  official  relations  could  con- 
tinue. 

I  spent  the  most  miserable  and  restive  night  of  my  life.  My 
mind  was  in  wild  tumult  and  I  arose  the  next  morning  determined 

to  resign  before  night 

.  .  Mr.  Buchanan  at  once  requested  my  presence  but  I  hesitated 
to  go  for  I  knew  the  temper  of  the  appeal  he  would  make  to  me. 
I  felt  that  he  would  place  his  demand  that  I  remain  by  his  side 
upon  such  grounds  of  personal  friendship  that  it  would  make  it 
impossible  for  me  to  leave  him  without  laying  myself  open  to  the 
charge  of  having  deserted  a  friend  who  had  greatly  honored  and 
trusted  me  at  a  time  when  he  was  under  the  shadow  of  the  great- 
est trouble  of  his  life.  He  sent  a  second  time  and  I  went.  I 
found  him  greatly  disturbed  and  his  first  words  were : 

"  Is  it  true  that  you  are  going  to  desert  me  ?  " 

"  It  is  true  that  I  am  going  to  resign,"  was  my  reply. 

"  I  am  overwhelmed  to  know,"  said  he,  "  that  you  of  all  other 

66  L.  G.  Tyler,  "Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  615. 

67  Philadelphia  Press,  September  10,  1883,  by  Burr. 


162         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

men  are  going  to  leave  me  in  this  crisis.  You  are  from  my  own 
State,  my  closest  political  and  personal  friend,  I  have  leaned  upon 
you  in  these  troubles  as  upon  none  other,  and  I  insist  that  you 
shall  stand  by  me  to  the  end." 

He  then  reviewed  our  association  and  made  such  appeal  to  me 
as  I  knew  he  would  when  I  responded  to  his  summons.  After 
he  was  through  I  replied : 

"  Mr.  President,  from  the  start  I  had  determined  to  stand  by 
you  to  death  and  destruction  if  need  be.  I  promised  that  as  long 
as  there  was  a  button  to  the  coat  I  would  cling  to  it.  But  your 
action  has  taken  every  button  off  and  driven  me  away  from  you." 

"  What  do  you  refer  to  ?  "   said  he. 

"  Your  reply  to  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners.68  That 
document  is  the  powder  that  has  blown  your  Cabinet  to  the  four 
winds.  The  Southern  members  will  leave  because  you  do  not 
concede  what  they  ask,  and  your  conclusions  make  it  impossible 
for  them  to  stay.  The  paper  is  even  harder  upon  the  Northern 
members  of  your  political  household.  It  forces  the  Southern  men 
out,  and  you  cannot  ask  that  we  stay.  I  would  not  leave  you  for 
any  earthly  consideration  so  long  as  I  could  stay  by  you  with  self- 
respect,  but  I  cannot  do  it,  if  the  paper  you  have  prepared  is  sent 
to  the  gentlemen  from  South  Carolina." 

The  President  seemed  surprised  that  I  took  this  document  so 
much  to  heart  and  I  confess  that  it  took  all  the  determination  I 
had  to  announce  to  him  my  decision  with  relation  to  it,  for  his 
manner  toward  me  was  kind  and  his  appeal  to  me  earnestness 
itself.  To  my  surprise  he  did  not  even  argue  the  points  of  my 
objection  as  I  expected  he  would.  He  heard  me  without  a  word 
and  when  I  had  finished  said : 

"  Judge,  you  speak  the  words  of  my  heart.  I  recognize  the 
force  and  justice  of  what  you  say.  The  letter  to  the  South  Caro- 
lina Commissioners  my  tongue  dictated,  but  not  my  reason.     But 

68  Buchanan  had  known  of  plenty  of  cases  to  justify  his  attitude  on  aid 
from  a  hostile  Congress. 

"  Congress  so  long  delays  troops  we  can't  get  them  into  the  field  until 
the  commencement  of  the  Vomito  season  at  Vera  Cruz." — Buchanan  to 
Donelson  (written  while  he  was  Secretary  of  State),  January  29,  1845, 
Donelson  Papers,  L.  C. 

His  letter  to  Marcy,  August  29,  1856,  shows  the  despair  of  the  Democrats 
over  the  failure  of  the  Republicans  to  pass  Pierce  Army  Bill  for  needed 
troops.     See  Moore,  Vol.  X,  p.  89. 

His  own  administration  did  not  get  enough  troops  to  keep  the  Indians 
quiet  and  run  the  Utah  war  properly.  Seward  alone  of  the  Republicans 
favored  military  support  in  Utah. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  163 

I  feel  that  we  must  not  have  an  open  rupture.  We  are  not  pre- 
pared for  war,  and  if  war  is  provoked,  Congress  cannot  be  relied 
upon  to  strengthen  my  arm,  and  the  Union  must  utterly  perish. 
"  But,  Mr.  President,  you  must  stand  by  your  position,  and 
boldly,  with  your  judgment."  69 

He  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  but  turned  to  me  and  said : 
"  Your  resignation  is  the  one  thing  that  shall  not  be.  I  will 
not — I  cannot  part  with  you.  If  you  go,  Holt  and  Stanton  will 
leave,  and  I  will  be  in  a  sorry  attitude  before  the  country.  This 
is  the  greatest  trouble  I  have  had  yet  to  bear.  Here,  take  this 
paper  and  modify  it  to  suit  yourself ;  but  do  it  before  the  sun 
goes  down.  Before  I  sleep  this  night  I  must  know  that  this 
matter  is  arranged  to  your  satisfaction." 

In  answer  to  the  question  as  to  whether  the  first  note  conceded 
the  right  of  secession,  Black  replied : 

No !  no !  a  thousand  times  no !  It  is  a  gross  libel  upon  the 
truth  to  assume  that  Mr.  Buchanan's  letter  acknowledged  the 
right  of  Secession.  This  was  a  question  upon  which  his  judg- 
ment was  fixed  at  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  and  never  modi- 
fied. The  paper  was  so  unsatisfactory  to  the  Southern  members 
that  they  were  bound  to  go.  This  certainly  would  not  have  been 
their  conclusion  if  the  President  had  acknowledged  the  kernel  of 
the  principle  they  were  contending  for.  My  objections  to  the 
paper  were  that  it  dallied  with  the  enemies  of  the  Government, 
implied  certain  diplomatic  rights  of  South  Carolina  that  could  not 
exist,  and  yielded  points  that  were  unfair  to  the  President's  posi- 
tion. 

The  President  accepted  the  paper  and  framed  his  answer  to 
the  so-called  South  Carolina  Commissioners  to  avoid  the  points 
I  had  raised. 

The  objections,  which  he  immediately  set  to  work  to  prepare, 
were  copied  by  Stanton.  Their  contents  have  long  been  known 
to  the  public.  A.  K.  McClure,70  who  talked  with  Black  on  the 
subject,  states  that  Buchanan  had  said  in  his  first  paper: 

I  have  declined  for  the  present  to  reinforce  these  forts  [in 
Charleston  Harbor]  relying  upon  the  honor  of  South  Carolinians 
that  they  will  not  be  assaulted  while  they  remain  in  their  present 

69  Had  the  President  refused  to  sustain  Anderson,  the  loan  which  the 
Government  had  attempted  to  float  might  have  utterly  failed.  This  would 
have  virtually  paralyzed  the  machinery  of  the  Government. 

70  See  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  for  printed  copy,  pp.  153,  154.  E.  A. 
K.  McClure,  "  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,"  p.  277. 


164         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

conditions  but  that  Commissioners  will  be  sent  by  the  convention 
to  treat  with  Congress  on  the  subject. 

From  one  of  the  objections  on  Black's  paper,  the  inference 
seems  to  be  that  the  President  intended  to  recommend  to  Con- 
gress that  it  do  something  about  the  property  in  Charleston. 
This  Black  seems  to  have  felt  might  be  used  later  as  a  handle  by 
the  State  authorities  to  claim  de  facto  recognition.  As  all  re- 
lations between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  States  are  offi- 
cially conducted  through  the  State  Department,  Black  had  very 
personal  reasons  for  being  interested,  as  he  might  be  held  jointly 
responsible  for  future  issues  arising  out  of  the  question.  There 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Buchanan  had  any  idea  of  committing 
himself  in  any  way  on  the  status  of  South  Carolina.  Black 
feared  a  misconstruction. 

Black  objected  to  "  the  deep  regret  of  the  President  that  the 
Commissioners  are  not  inclined  to  proceed  with  the  business  they 
came  for."  71  This  merely  showed  that  Buchanan  desired  to  en- 
courage the  delegation  to  try  Congress  and  thus  gain  time  for 
compromise.  Black,  however,  desired  the  President  to  refrain 
from  mentioning  any  such  disappointment. 

He  objected  to  the  phrase  against  State  coercion,  and  advised 
the  President  that  he  could  not  legally  pledge  himself  not  to  keep 
a  free  hand  in  regard  to  the  forts. 

The  President  on  this  point  completely  vindicated  himself  in 
the  reply,  but  did  not  deny  that  there  had  been  a  mutual  state- 
ment of  policy  at  the  time.  Black  also  commended  Anderson. 
On  this  point  he  later  changed  his  mind.  He  also  urged  the 
President  to  make  it  clear  that  the  move  of  Anderson  could  not 
in  any  way  be  construed  as  an  aggressive  act.  All  the  way 
through  he  made  the  most  of  the  right  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  its  property.  An  exhortation  to  reinforce  Anderson  fol- 
lowed the  memorandum. 

Speaking  of  the  modified  draft,  Thompson  said,  in  1882 :72 

How  or  by  whom  it  was  done  I  cannot  say.  I  noticed  that  it 
had  been  radically  changed  when  I  heard  it  read  the  last  time. 

71  Crossed  out  on  the  original ;  much  like  paragraph  2  of  Black's  objec- 
tions. 

72  Philadelphia  Press,  September  17,  1883. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  165 

and  said  so  to  the  President,  "  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  I  have  modi- 
fied it  somewhat."  But  I  and  my  Southern  colleagues  never 
knew  anything  of  the  way  in  which  the  changes  were  made  until 
I  read  Judge  Black's  statement  today. 

The  Commissioners  were  not  at  all  satisfied  with  the  answer, 
and  wrote  a  long  note  to  the  President  in  which  they  accused  him 
of  bad  faith.  The  reception  and  rejection  are  described  by 
Thomas : 73 

I  remember  distinctly  that  when  their  answer  was  received  to 
the  paper  prepared  from  the  memorandum  for  the  President 
which  Judge  Black  gave  you,  Mr.  Thompson  opened  it  and  read 
it  aloud  to  the  Cabinet.  Every  man  present  immediately  said 
that  it  was  of  such  a  character  that  the  President  could  not  re- 
ceive it.  The  President,  I  think,  was  the  last  to  speak.  He  said, 
Let  it  be  returned,"  and  that  settled  it.  ...  I  did  not  hear  him 
say  "  Reinforcements  shall  now  be  sent,"  as  I  see  it  stated  that 
he  did. 

On  the  same  day  of  Black's  interview  (Sunday,  December  30) 
Trescot 74  again  tried  to  persuade  the  President  to  restore  the 
status.  Toucey  was  also  at  the  White  House.  Indeed,  he 
seemed  to  be  the  only  faithful  friend  of  the  President  who  did 
not  flinch  in  the  crisis.  They  both  told  Trescot  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  haul  down  the  flag  in  Charleston  with  Northern 
opinion  at  its  present  heat.  Trescot  took  the  idea  that  it  might 
be  possible  to  march  the  militia  out  of  Moultrie  and  march  An- 
derson in  again.  He  then  went  to  Hunter  with  the  idea,  and 
Hunter  proposed  it  to  the  President.75  It  was  in  vain.  Hunter 
came  out  saying: 

"It  is  useless  to  repeat  what  passed.  The  case  is  hopeless. 
The  President  has  changed  his  ground  and  will  maintain  it  to  the 
last  extremity.  Telegraph  your  people  to  sink  vessels  in  the  en- 
trance of  the  harbor  immediately.     They  have  no  time  to  lose." 

The  everlasting  importuning  of  these  men  had  forced  the  Presi- 
dent into  a  more  and  more  unconciliatory  policy.76 

73  Philadelphia  Press,  August  4,  1881,  by  Burr. 

74  Crawford,  "  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  159.  Part  of  Crawford's  inferences  were 
incorrect.     See  account  above. 

™  A.  H.  A,  1916,  Vol.  II,  p.  530. 

76  The  Commissioners  now  addressed  their  angry  note  to  the  President. — 
Crawford,  ibid.,  p.  159. 
12 


166         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  departure  of  the  Commissioners  seemed  to  indicate  to  Bu- 
chanan the  increased  probability  of  the  beginning  of  war  which, 

Mr.  Burgess  has  lugged  in  the  idea  of  Buchanan  fearing  assassination. 
("Civil  War  and  the  Constitution,"  Vol.  I,  p.  86,  New  York,  1895.)  This 
was  a  species  of  propaganda  of  the  Republicans  in  i860.  As  threats  from 
the  South  were  balanced  by  threats  from  the  North,  it  could  not  have 
swayed  Buchanan  to  the  Southern  side  alone.  Buchanan,  like  Jefferson  and 
Seward,  was  not  a  combative  man,  but  he  had  plenty  of  Christian  fortitude 
and  will  power  in  doing  what  he  thought  was  right.  A  plot  to  kidnap  him 
has  already  received  mention.  It  is  probably  true  that  he  considered  the 
possibilities  of  being  murdered  in  office  or  more  likely  of  being  killed  by 
hectoring  and  over-work,  but  it  is  equally  true  that,  when  he  had  time,  he 
walked  about  at  sunset,  alone  and  unattended,  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  dur- 
ing the  last  three  months,  where  his  large  figure  would  have  been  an  easy 
target  to  a  ruffian  "  patriot."  It  will  be  shown  that  he  rode  up  the  street 
with  Lincoln  in  his  carriage  a  few  days  after  the  latter  had  yielded  to  the 
advice  of  friends  to  go  in  disguise  through  Baltimore.  Furthermore,  just 
after  he  refused  to  restore  Anderson,  he  held  his  reception  on  New  Year's 
as  usual  where  he  could  have  been  shot  as  easily  as  McKinley  at  Buffalo. 
Speaking  of  this  subject  the  correspondent  of  the  Herald  said  (January  2)  : 

"  Notwithstanding  the  menaces  of  assassination  and  insult  with  which  the 
President  has  been  threatened  by  the  valient  General  Webb  and  other  swash- 
bucklers, he  will  as  usual  be  accessible  to  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  parties, 
have  no  guard  but  the  consciousness  of  discharging  his  duty  with  singleness 
of  heart  and  respect  of  the  American  people  for  the  constituted  authority 
of  the  land." 

Speaking  during  the  War  of  the  threatened  invasion  of  Lancaster  by  the 
Confederate  army,  when  some  were  urging  him  to  leave,  he  wrote  to  Black : 

"  For  my  own  part  I  felt  no  alarm  at  the  approach  of  the  rebels  and  with 
the  help  of  God  should  not  have  removed  from  Wheatland  had  I  been  sur- 
rounded by  a  hundred  thousand  of  them.  I  have  schooled  my  mind  to  meet 
the  inevitable  evils  of  life  with  Christian  philosophy." — July  17,  1863,  Black 
Papers,  L.  C. 

It  was  this  consolation  and  a  striving  to  keep  right  with  God  that  solaced 
him  in  the  dark  periods  of  his  career. 

To  a  man  fond  of  public  life  and  not  free  from  vanity,  the  sacrifice  of 
popular  praise  was  most  laudatory.  For  a  man  who  disliked  contention  to 
refuse  to  justify  the  radicals  of  either  side,  and  to  undergo  years  of  ostra- 
cism by  part  of  his  own  community,  for  conscience  sake  and  the  desire  to 
save  his  fellows  from  the  madness  of  their  own  folly,  was  moral  fortitude 
of  the  highest  order. 

In  the  period  of  trial  he  wrote : 

"  I  would  sacrifice  my  own  life  at  any  moment  to  save  the  Union,  if  such 
were  the  will  of  God.  .  .  ."  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  74. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  i 860-1861  167 

with  his  slender  resources  and  a  discordant  Congress,  he  felt  very 
unable  to  conduct.  The  order  for  the  sailing  of  the  Star  of  the 
West  and  his  statement  to  Holt,  "  It  is  now  over,  and  reinforce- 
ments 77  must  now  be  sent,"  indicate  that  no  further  evidence  is 
needed  to  show  that  had  the  President  been  once  convinced  that 
war  was  the  only  way  out,  he  would  have  conducted  it  as  best  he 
could.  But  other  forces  were  shortly  to  appear  which  were  in 
direct  harmony  with  his  hopes  and  faith  in  peaceful  adjustment. 
The  expedition  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  then,  marks  the  low- 
water  mark  of  the  President's  hope  to  save  the  existing  Union. 

The  move  of  Anderson  had  brought  down  Buchanan's  plans 
like  a  house  of  cards.  He  knew  the  character  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, and  he  also  knew  that  it  was  not  to  the  advantage  of  the 
South  to  begin  hostilities.  Having  sounded  sentiment,  he  felt 
sure  that  all  had  gone  as  well  as  could  be  expected  78  and  hopes 
for  compromise  were  reasonably  bright.  His  chief  concern  was 
over  the  possible  break-up  of  his  Cabinet,  which  he  hoped  to  keep 
a  unit  to  the  end  of  his  term.79 

But  Anderson's  move  had  changed  all  this ;  had  put  him  in  a 
place  where  his  intentions  had  been  misconstrued,  and  had  brought 
the  country  to  the  verge  of  war.  Small  wonder  that  he  is  reported 
to  have  said  to  the  suggestion  of  promoting  Anderson :  "  I  will 
leave  that  for  my  successor  to  do."  80 

For  him,  the  change  was  one  of  the  greatest  blunders  that  could 
have  happened.  He  now  had  to  make  considerable  realignment  of 
policy,  but  not  of  purpose. 

77  Reenforcements  were  decided  upon  December  30.  The  boat  sailed 
January  5th. 

78  Speaking  of  his  policy  in  1861,  he  said : 

"  In  my  message  therefore  of  the  3d  December  I  stated  '  It  is  not  believed 
that  any  attempt  will  be  made  to  expel  the  United  States  from  this  property 
by  force.'  In  this  belief  I  was  justified  by  the  event — as  there  was  no 
trouble  until  after  Major  Anderson  retired  from  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter 
as  he  had  a  right  to  do  having  first  spiked  his  cannon  and  burned  the  gun 
carriages." — January  29,  1861. — Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  532. 

79  Buchanan,  p.  in. 

80  Lossing,  "  Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  Vol.  I,  p.  281. 
Lossing   took  part   of   his   material   from   hostile   newspapers,   and   the 

above  remark  may  or  may  not  be  true.  Lossing  was  hostile  to  Buchanan 
because  of  Cass  of  whom  he  made  a  hero  in  his  book.  Cass  stayed  at  his 
house  after  the  resignation. 


168         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 
APPENDIX 

EXCERPTS   FROM  A  FEW   LETTERS   RECEIVED  BY  BUCHANAN  AT  THE 
CLOSE  OF  HIS  ADMINISTRATION  x 

I  will  do  everything  in  my  power  to  modify  them  [events  in  the 
South]  as  much  as  possible  to  arrest  any  hostile  action  during 
your  administration.  ...  I  deeply  regret  the  embarrassment  which 
will  surround  you. — Slidell  to  Buchanan,  November  n,  i860. 

Slidell's  attitude  was  not  to  be  severely  criticized.  He  had 
written  a  newspaper  article  saying  that  Lincoln  would  be  more 
moderate  than  Seward,  during  the  campaign  of  i860.  His  break 
with  Buchanan  over  Beauregard  has  been  noted.  Up  to  January 
29th  he  was  often  in  consultation  with  the  President. 

I  think  the  South  ought  not  to  make  this  trouble  during  your 
term  of  office  for  you  have  always  been  their  friend  and  they 
should  stand  by  your  administration  to  the  last. — Cornelia  Roose- 
velt to  Buchanan,  New  York,  November  5,  i860,  H.  S.  P. 

I  cannot  close  this  letter  without  bearing  my  testimony  to  the 
zealous  and  earnest  devotion  to  the  best  interest  of  the  country 
with  which  during  a  term  of  unexampled  trial  and  trouble  you 
have  sought  to  discharge  the  duties  of  your  high  state. — DePhillips 
to  Buchanan,  Philadelphia,  December  12,  i860,  H.  S.  P. 

Every  Southern  heart  owes  you  a  debt  of  gratitude. — A.  P. 
Hayne  to  Buchanan,  New  York,  December  22,  i860,  H.  S.  P. 

Toombs  wants  to  know  if  Buchanan  ordered  Anderson  to 
Sumter;  says  it  is  bad  policy. — Washington,  December  28,  i860, 
H.  S.  P. 

Republicans  desire  Buchanan  to  begin  war  and  thus  escape 
blame :  present  Union  cannot  be  preserved  for  it  should  have  to 
be  held  by  main  force :  hopes  for  two  peaceful  countries  to  unite 
in  the  future  in  case  of  foreign  aggression. — V.  C.  Bradford  to 
Buchanan,  Philadelphia,  January  3,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Governor  Moore  of  Alabama : 

Letter  telling  of  the  taking  of  the  forts  due  to  fear  of  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Federal  Government. — January  4,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

1  The  Baker  letters  are  from  Joseph  Baker,  a  lifelong  intimate  friend  of 
Buchanan.  He  was  at  this  time  Collector  of  the  Port  at  Philadelphia. 
Bradford  and  Phillips  were  both  Philadelphia  Democrats.  Levi  P.  Bowen 
was  a  former  Whig  who  had  voted  for  Buchanan  in  1856.  He  was  on 
very  good  and  frank  terms  with  the  President. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  169 

Letter  from  Isaac  Sturgeon  states : 

That  he  fears  danger  to  the  arsenal  in  St.  Louis. — January  6, 
1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Mr.  President,  if  you  had  been  among  us  in  the  South  and 
your  kindred  and  destiny  were  here,  you  could  not  do  less  than 
we  are  doing.  Let  the  voice  of  common  justice  save  us  from 
your  condemnation. — Part  of  a  Long  Letter  from  William  F. 
Sanford  (Ala.),  January  6,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

France  must  have  cotton :  France  cannot  allow  any  power  to 
disturb  its  production  and  transit.  If  necessary  France  must 
intervene. — Davis  or  Dawes  to  Buchanan,  January  7,  1861,  H. 
S.  P. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  tour  of  preaching 

.  .  Secession  was  carrying  all  before  it 

.  .  But  as  soon  as  your  message  made  its  appearance,  the  change  in 
public  sentiment  was  so  manifest  that  the  heart  of  the  lovers  of 
our  blessed  Union  was  made  to  rejoice. — Rev.  P.  A.  Samson, 
Griffin,  Ga.,  January  7,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

There  are  few  unconditional  secessionists  in  Maryland,  although 
there  is  no  doubt  of  deep  and  universal  sympathy  for  the  South. — 
L.  K.  Bowen  to  Buchanan,  Washington  (Bowen  was  a  native  of 
Maryland),  January  7,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

.  .  .  for  we  of  the  South  elevated  you  to  your  present  post  by 
almost  unanimous  choice.  .  .  .  Washington  would  have  had  peace. 
— Taylor  to  Buchanan,  Middleton,  Miss.,  January  11,  1861,  H. 
S.  P. 

Hopes  no  reinforcements :  leave  the  matter  to  Congress  "  To 
withdraw  the  troops  would  overwhelm  you  and  your  administra- 
tion:" choose  another  port  of  entry  than  South  Carolina:  Scott 
and  Seward  are  together :  "  The  general  has  not  forgotten  that 
you  were  a  member  of  the  Administration  during  which  he  '  par- 
took of  a  hearty  plate  of  soup  '  or  your  Greenburg  speech." 
Scott  would  be  a  military  dictator:  Harvey  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  is  a  bad  man:  Holt  is  with  him. — Baker  to  Buchanan, 
January  11,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

.  .  .  your  excellency  is  aware  that  the  President  of  the  United 
States  without  the  express  authority  of  Congress  possesses  no 
power  to  accept  men  and  money  for — Crossed  out  on  the  back  of 
a  letter  [in  Buchanan's  writing]  from  Governor  of  New  York 
tendering  State  aid  against  South,  January  11,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 


170         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Pickens  a  traitor ;  not  expedient  to  protect  property :  civil  author- 
ity ended:  let  Congress  act. — Baker  to  Buchanan,  January  12, 
1861,  H.  S.  P. 

.  .  .  whole  people  hereabout  speak  of  your  manly  and  patriotic 
course. — N.  E.  Paine  to  Buchanan,  Rochester,  January  13,  1861, 
H.  S.  P. 

Wants  the  Star  of  the  West  to  return:  foresees  doom  of  the  ad- 
ministration if  he  doesn't  send  it  back. — W.  V.  Bartlett  to  Bu- 
chanan, New  York,  January  15,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Coercion  will  destroy  all  hope  and  liberty.  "  We  must  have  our 
rights,  and  if  we  are  met  by  force  in  asserting  them,  why  we  must 
resist.  That's  the  whole  of  it.  .  .  .  Let  the  South  alone.  We 
will  take  care  of  ourselves,  and  if  best  for  us,  we  will  come  back 
to  a  just  government,  or  if  not  we  will  leave  it.  One  thing  is 
certain ;  South  Carolina  is  out  of  the  good  old  thirteen." — J.  G.  W. 
Ramsey  to  Buchanan,  Mecklenburg  near  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Janu- 
ary 15,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

.  .  .  advise  against  the  shedding  of  blood :  constitution  has  been 
violated :  if  Congress  had  done  its  duty  as  on  the  tariff  the  States 
would  have  been  retained. — H.  A.  Raines  to  Buchanan,  Rush, 
Texas,  January  20,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

If  you  coerce,  the  Democratic  party  is  gone.  The  Republicans 
will  not  be  so  anxious  for  war  if  they  have  to  take  the  responsibil- 
ity.— E.  W.  Willberger  to  Buchanan,  Chicago,  January  21,  1861, 
H.  S.  P. 

Florida  secession  announced  January  21,  1861. 
Received  Yulee  in  person  January  23,  1861. 
H.  S.  P. 

V.  S.  Bradford  of  Philadelphia  desires  Buchanan  to  evacuate 
the  forts. — January  25,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Digest:  No  hope  for  Union:  whole  system  would  be  destroyed 
sooner  or  later  if  the  South  submits : 

Shall  they  go  in  peace  or  war?:  reconstruction  may  follow  peace- 
ful separation :  maintenance  of  the  Constitution  greater  than 
Union:  greater  is  the  duty  of  keeping  Republican  institutions:  if 
the  North  wants  Union  let  it  repeal  hostile  State  laws  ...  to 
save  the  South. 

Writer  says  he  is  no  politician. — Salem,  Miss.,  January  28,  1861, 
H.  S.  P.     Sent  from  Salem,  Mass.,  to  Buchanan. 


BUCHANAN'S  POLICY,  1 860-1861  171 

Note  from  Senator  Bigler,  Slidell,  and  Hunter,  anxious  to 
avoid  collision. 

Let  the  Brooklyn  succor  the  Fort  if  attacked.— January  29, 
1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Louisiana  not  for  secession :  yet  will  not  be  driven.  Approves 
Buchanan's  course :  first  wrongs  committed  by  the  North. — Henry 
Baldwin,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  to  Buchanan,  writing  from  New 
Orleans,  La.,  January  30,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Thomas  J.  Judge  is  commissioner  from  Alabama  to  negotiate 
for  the  transfer  of  Federal  Property  in  that  State : 
Buchanan  will  only  receive  him  as  a  private  citizen,  and  has  no 
power  to  act  on  the  matter.     C.   C.  Clay  desires  Buchanan  to 
recognize  the  State  before  Lincoln  makes  war. 
A  religious  letter : 

"  We  are  two  peoples  but  may  be  friendly  & 
useful  to  each  other  yet." — February  1,  1861.  .  .  . 
Another  letter  from  Clay  on  February  5th: 

Judge  will  not  see  Buchanan  on  the  terms  mentioned.  Clay 
says  the  property  belongs  to  Alabama:  urges  no  reinforcements: 
recites  long  list  of  grievances  against  the  North,  crossed  out 
portion  says  the  letter  of  Judge  was  courteous :  criticizes  Scott 
and  Black:  advises  Buchanan  to  trust  his  judgment  and  feelings, 
H.  S.  P. 

Bowen  is  angry  at  Hicks  and  Davis  (of  Maryland)  ;  people  say 
that  they  are  for  the  Republicans :  no  need  of  fearing  that  Mary- 
land will  leave  before  the  fourth  of  March:  watch  Virginia; 
(there  are  some  indications  that  Buchanan  was  trying  to  use  his 
influence  in  Maryland  to  stop  the  calling  of  a  Constitutional  Con- 
vention before  Lincoln  could  come  in)  ;  hopes  the  State  will 
stand  for  Southern  rights  but  also  for  Union. — February  1,  1861, 
H.  S.  P. 

Maryland  politics  in  chaos;  the  coming  Convention  will  repre- 
sent only  a  small  body  of  the  people : 

"  They  will  not  move  a  step  towards  Secession  unless  Virginia 
encourages  them." 

Tells    Buchanan    not   to    worry   over   the    Convention. — William 
Morris  (Baltimore)  to  Buchanan,  February  6,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Letter  from  a  Federal  officer  in  Pensacola  says  the  seceders  get 
the  best  out  of  the  armistice :  bad  equipment  in  the  fort :  seceders 
lack  discipline. — February  7,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Letter  of  February  28,  1861,  says:  now  the  batteries  are  much 
stronger  at  Pickens. — H.  S.  P, 


172         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

A.  B.  Greenwood  would  have  accepted  the  place  of  Secretary 
of  Interior,  but  his  State,  to  his  disgust,  seized  the  Little  Rock 
Arsenal. — Greenwood  to  Buchanan,  Washington,  February  8, 
1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Charles  B.  Pickens  of  Boston  says  that  Buchanan's  course  saved 
the  country. — February  11,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Money  is  abundant,  but  there  is  such  want  of  confidence  in  the 
future  that  business  is  paralyzed.  .  .  . — C.  M.  Macalaster,  New 
York,  February  13,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 

The  passage  of  the  Morrill  Tariff  Bill  at  this  time  a  disastrous 
event. — H.  M.  Phillips  (Philadelphia)  to  Buchanan,  February  17, 
1861,  H.  S.  P. 

Wikyoff  threatens  to  use  the  Herald  against  Buchanan  if  he 
does  not  give  Bennett  an  appointment. — Written  about  February 
25,  1861.2 

2  Bennett  did  later  receive  an  appointment  from  Lincoln  and  joined  his 
cause.  He  refused  the  appointment  but  felt  very  grateful  for  the  offer. 
Shortly  after  this  he  attacked  Buchanan,  thus  laying  the  basis  for  future 
historians. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Passing  of  an  Era 

The  Passing  of  an  Era— Preparation  of  the  Message  of  January 
8th — The  Changed  Conditions  and  the  President's  Policy — The 
Message  and  its  Effect — Evidences  of  the  Continued  Adherence 
of  Buchanan  to  His  Earlier  Views — The  Peace  Conference,  its 
Effect  on  the  President's  Policy,  its  Course,  Cause  of  Failure — 
Separation  of  Buchanan  from  the  South,  its  Cause  and  Degree — 
The  Inauguration  of  Lincoln — Buchanan's  Return  to  Wheatlands 
— Policy  of  the  New  Administration — Buchanan's  Position  During 
the  War. 

The  New  Year  did  not  dawn  brightly.  The  reply  to  the  South 
Carolina  Commissioners  and  Buchanan's  refusal  to  receive  their 
note,  brought  the  country  nearer  than  before  to  the  civil  conflict. 
Hope,  however,  though  temporarily  shadowed,  had  not  vanished 
in  the  heart  of  the  older  generation,  who  hoped  to  the  last  that  a 
rent  in  the  Union  could  be  averted.  On  January  2d  reinforce- 
ments were  ordered  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  as  a  result  Thompson 
resigned  a  few  days  later.1 

Trescot  believes  that  Toombs'  statement  to  Buchanan  that 
Georgia  would  secede  upon  his  failure  to  send  Anderson  back  to 
Moultrie  had  considerable  effect.  It  would  seem,  however,  that 
it  was  one  of  many  events  that  changed  the  political  horizon.  The 
hostility  of  South  Carolina  over  the  move  of  Anderson,  the  in- 
creased excitement  on  the  Gulf  States,  made  Buchanan  more 
anxious  for  Congressional  support.  He  still  hoped,  and  correctly 
so,  for  the  adherence  of  large  border  States  to  the  Union  on  the 
basis  of  non-coercion.     They  did  not  disappoint  him,  but  it  now 

1  The  Tribune  began  to  turn  for  coercion  about  January  3d.  See  part 
on  Thompson  for  details. 

Although  Buchanan  offered  the  vacancy  to  different  persons  only  one, 
Mr.  A.  B.  Greenwood,  would  take  it.  His  State,  Arkansas,  seceded,  to  his 
disgust,  and  thus  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  accept.  For  the  remainder 
of  the  term  Moses  Kelly,  the  chief  clerk  of  the  Department  ably  per- 
formed the  duties  of  the  office.  It  was  perfectly  plain  to  Buchanan  that 
he  had  to  use  much  tact  in  keeping  his  Cabinet  together  until  the  end 
of  his  term. 

173 


174         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

appeared  evident  that  the  Gulf  States  were  becoming  disaffected. 
(It  will  be  shown,  however,  that  no  mental  change  had  taken  place 
on  his  main  hope  for  solution  of  the  difficulties.)  With  the 
horizon  black  with  clouds,  Buchanan  began  to  prepare  his  message. 
The  President  and  Cabinet  went  to  work  with  a  will.  Thomas 
remarked :  2 

The  Cabinet  was  then  almost  constantly  in  session,  and  the  bulk 
of  the  message  was  written  paragraph  by  paragraph  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Cabinet,  and  discussed  as  it  was  prepared.  I  remem- 
ber on  the  7th  ...  we  were  closing  it  up.  .  .  . 

On  January  4th  Thompson  put  his  advice  in  writing.  It  is  a 
very  able  and  important  historical  document.  It  is  also  one  of 
the  most  interesting  side  lights  on  the  President's  attitude  and  his 
points  of  variance  with  his  Secretary. 

Washington,  D.  C, 
To  His  Excellency  James  Buchanan  January  4,  1861. 

President  of  the  U.  S. 
Sir: 

On  yesterday  you  read  a  proposed  message  to  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  in  which  you  transmitted  correspond- 
ence with  the  Commissioners  of  South  Carolina.  As  one  of  your 
constitutional  advisers,  I  am  called  upon  to  say,  what  ought  to  be 
contained  in  that  message,  and  although  you  have  not  asked  my 
opinion  in  writing,  I  hope  you  will  pardon  the  suggestion  on  that 
subject,  which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  you,  and  to  the  country,  now 
to  make. 

The  time  has  come  when  the  great  issue  of  this  Age  should  be 
met  squarely  and  firmly.  A  temporizing  policy  is  tantamount  to 
destruction.  You  have  been  officially  notified  that  South  Carolina 
has,  in  fact,  withdrawn  from  this  Confederacy  and  this  day  claims 
to  be  an  independent,  foreign  State.  It  is  also  well  known  that 
four  other  States  are  ready  to  declare  their  separation.  It  is  also 
well  known  that  a  pervading  sense  of  insecurity  disquiets  the 
public  mind  in  ten  other  States,  and  they  are  contemplating  the 
question  of  uniting  their  destiny  with  these  States.  You  may 
shut  your  eyes  and  close  your  ears,  and  say,  "  I  cannot  and  do 
not  know  these  facts  officially,  or  knowing  them,  I  have  no  power 
to  recognize  them  as  facts.  That  either  South  Carolina  nor  any 
other  State  has  the  constitutional  right  to  secede  is  a  mere  nullity." 
Be  it  so.     Still  without  authority  she  declares  herself  an  inde- 

2  Philadelphia  Press,  August  14,  1881,  by  Burr. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  175 

pendent  Sovereignty,  even  admit  the  absurdity  that  her  Govern- 
ment is  in  open  rebellion  against  this  Government.  That  then  is 
your  duty  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  Union,  you  are  bound, 
from  time  to  time  to  furnish  Congress  with  all  the  information  in 
your  possession  touching  the  States  of  the  Union, — and  therefore 
in  laying  your  correspondence  with  the  South  Carolina  before 
Congress. 

I  would  seize  the  occasion  to  bring  the  whole  subject  to  their 
attention.  I  would  inform  them,  that  the  idea  of  enforcing  the 
laws  in  those  seceding  States  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 
obligation  of  ensuring  the  domestic  tranquility,  of  providing  for 
the  general  welfare,  and  of  securing  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity.  That  although  the  State  may  have 
no  constitutional  power  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  yet  she  has 
undertaken  to  do  that  very  thing,  and  Congress  possesses  no  power 
to  coerce  her  to  return  into  the  Union.  That  this  General  Gov- 
ernment and  all  Government  in  America,  is  based  on  the  consent 
of  the  people,  and  it  can  only  be  held  together  by  the  chains  of 
reciprocal  good  will  and  affection.  According  to  existing  laws, 
all  duties  can  be  collected  only  in  the  Port  of  Charleston.  The 
Port  of  Charleston  extends  only  to  the  waterfront  within  the 
corporate  limits  of  that  city.  It  is  in  vain  for  you  to  send  your 
Collector  to  a  people  who  consider  themselves  no  longer  within 
your  jurisdiction.  Your  sending  him  only  incurs  insult  and 
derision.  If  he  goes,  you  must  clothe  him  with  power  to  coerce 
not  the  resistence  of  a  lawless  mob,  but  the  authorities  of  an  or- 
ganized government.  It  is  in  vain  to  think  you  are  only  enforcing 
the  laws  upon  individuals,  because  you  would  meet  no  resistence 
which  was  not  organized  and  directed  by  the  Government.  It 
would  be  a  palpable  evasion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  rests  in  Congress  the  sole  power  of  declaring  or 
making  war.  This  act,  which  would  be  considered  war  by  all  the 
Nations  of  the  World,  I  would  not  perform  it.  If  a  brother's 
blood  is  to  be  shed,  let  those  who  have  the  wickedness  as  well  as 
the  power  and  the  will,  take  the  responsibility.  I  would  wash  my 
hands  of  such  a  sacrilegious  deed. 

As  Congress  has  no  power  to  coerce  a  State  to  submission  to 
this  Government — has  no  power  by  the  military  arm  to  force  her 
to  undo  her  unlawful  acts,  and  as  the  collection  of  the  revenue  by 
a  superior  force  would  be  nothing  short  of  subjugation,  what  then 
is  left  to  be  done? 

Having  brought  the  whole  subject  to  the  attention  of  Congress, 
I,  as  President  of  the  whole  Union,  would  appeal  to  them  by  all  the 
considerations  of  patriotism  of  a  common  inheritance,  a  common 


176         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

glory  in  the  past,  a  common  pride  in  the  present  greatness  of  this 
Country,  and  the  incalculable  blessings  in  acts  of  civilization  and 
religion  in  store  for  the  generations  yet  to  come,  to  secure  the 
discontented  States  in  all  their  rights  of  property.  The  Southern 
States  have  been  insulted  and  wronged,  and  a  majority  section 
has  elected  rulers  on  principles  hostile  to  their  domestic  peace  and 
safety. 

Having  ascertained  the  Source  and  extent  of  the  distrust  and 
insecurity,  I  would  call  upon  Congress  to  forget  party,  to  merge 
their  prejudices  in  their  love  of  country,  its  liberties,  and  its 
glorious  institutions  by  giving  the  amplest  guarantees  for  pro- 
tection of  the  rights  of  all. 

But  if  we  are  already  two  peoples,  if  sectional  hate  is  so 
strongly  and  deep  rooted  that  the  two  great  sections  of  this 
Country  cannot  longer  live  together  in  peace,  by  securing  to  each 
a  full  measure  of  justice,  then,  before  I  would  pursue  a  line  of 
policy  which  would  inevitably  inaugurate  a  civil  war,  and  thus 
force  you  to  imbrue  your  hands  in  the  blood  of  your  fellow  citi- 
zens, I  would  recommend  to  Congress  the  adoption  of  measures 
for  the  peaceable  separation  of  these  States  and  a  free  election 
should  be  secured  to  each  State  to  determine  for  herself  in  what 
division  of  States  she  would  cast  her  lot.  Thus  prosperity  would 
be  secured,  individual  prosperity  and  happiness  would  be  unin- 
terrupted, peace,  religion,  civilization  and  the  great  onward  moral 
spectacle  would  be  presented  of  a  mighty  revolution  effected  by 
public  opinion  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood.  Such  a  revolu- 
tion would  be  the  grandest  triumph  of  the  nineteenth  century.  I 
think  you  might  even  draw  Hope  from  despair.  When  the  sister- 
hood of  States  come  together  to  draw  up  the  articles  of  separation, 
their  natural  love  and  affection  might  still  prevail  and  save  the 
rights  of  all,  and  thereby  save  the  Union  of  these  States. 

I  have  made  these  suggestions  with  a  scrupulous  regard  to 
your  previous  position  taken  in  your  message.  I  have  not  said 
one  word  having  reference  to  my  own  peculiar  views  with  regard 
to  the  right  of  secession,  and  I  have  consulted  no  one  in  regards 
to  this  but  a  single  member  of  your  cabinet  who  I  think  approves 
them  as  worthy  of  the  crisis. 

With  highest  consideration, 
Your  friend, 

J.  Thompson. 

The  message,3  however,  followed  a  somewhat  different  direction. 
On  December  3d  Buchanan  had  declared  secession  to  be  revolu- 
3  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  94-98. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  177 

tion ;  he  now  informed  Congress  that  the  country  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  revolution,  and  extraordinary  measures  were  needed  at  once. 
Buchanan  exhibited  broken-heartedness  over  the  thought  of  the 
Union  going  to  destruction.  The  idea  of  Americans  killing  each 
other  in  mortal  strife  filled  his  eyes  with  tears  as  he  entreated 
Congress  to  forget  party,  and  do  something  to  help  save  the 
country.  He  declared  himself  ready  to  act  as  vigorously  on  the 
defensive  as  his  means  permitted.  He  again  uttered  one  of  the 
chief  features  of  his  policy :  Time  is  a  great  conservative  power : 
and  urged  Congress  to  direct  its  attention  to  some  sort  of  prompt 
action  while  peace  still  lasted.  He  set  forth  his  defensive  policv 
regarding  the  ports  in  the  South,  and  justified  it.  No  one  can 
read  these  two  messages  and  doubt  Buchanan's  honest  devotion 
to  the  Union  he  had  served  so  long. 

The  drift  of  the  more  radical  portions  of  the  South  away  from 
the  Administration,  having  begun  in  December,  now  continued. 
The  reply  to  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners  had  given  it 
impetus.  The  appointment  of  Holt  had  evoked  wrath.4  On  the 
2d  of  January,  Seward  suggested  a  call  on  the  President.  Old 
faces  vanished,  and  new  ones  appeared  at  the  White  House. 
Wise  wrathf ully  declared : 

Mr.  Buchanan's  new  allies,  the  Black  Republicans  and  coercion 
Democrats,  his  latter  day  friends,  who  now  applaud  his  policy  and 
who  but  lately  denounced  his  efforts  to  preserve  peace,  urge  that 
South  Carolina  is  the  wrong-doer  that  she  is  the  party  that  has 
begun  the  war.5 

The  President's  military  policy  has  been  ably  summarized  in 
his  very  able  reply  to  General  Scott  in  1862.6  A  brief  summary 
of  his  policy  follows  here,  in  a  letter  to  Holt  written  in  1861 : 7 

Wheatland,  16  March,  1861. 
My  dear  Sir  : 

I  have  received  yours  of  the  14th  instant  &  it  has  afforded  me 
much  gratification.  The  rumors  to  which  I  referred  were  that 
you  had  said  Fort  Sumter  could  &  would  have  been  reinforced 

*E.  g.,  A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  p.  528. 

5  Richmond  Enquirer,  January  5,  1861. 

6  See  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  279. 

'  Holt  Papers,  L.  C;  also  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  171. 


/ 


178         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

thirty  days  before  the  end  of  my  administration  but  I  had  pre- 
vented &c.  &c.  &c.  Both  Judge  Black  &  Mr.  Stanton  have  writ- 
ten me  that  Mr.  Seward  had  shown  them  written  comments  on 
your  note  to  Mr.  Lincoln  accompanying  Major  Anderson's  Dis- 
patches. If  that  memory  be  correct,  the  General  has  placed  him- 
self in  an  awkward  position  as  papers  in  my  possession  will  prove 
as  well  as  your  letter  concerning  Thompson.  I  wish  you  could 
occasionally  see  the  members  of  the  old  Cabinet  &  converse  with 
them. 

I  have  never  swerved  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  from  the  policy 
enunciated  in  my  last  annual  message.  Soon  after  I  learned 
that  the  collector  at  Charleston  had  resigned,  I  nominated  a  suc- 
cessor; but  no  action  was  taken  upon  the  nomination.  Intensely 
anxious  that  no  collision  should  occur  at  Charleston  which  might 
precipitate  the  Country  into  Civil  War,  I  was  yet  ever  ready  & 
willing  to  send  reinforcements  to  Major  Anderson  had  he  re- 
quested them.  Indeed  I  did  this  without  his  request  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  General  Scott  at  what  was  deemed  a  critical  moment. 
The  Star  of  the  West  was  only  happy  in  one  respect  &  that  is 
that  she  was  not  sunk  &  no  blood  was  shed. 

Then  came  the  Peace  Convention  &  the  earnest  appeal  of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia  to  me  &  to  the  authorities  of  the  Seceding 
States  "  to  agree  to  abstain  pending  the  proceedings  contemplated 
by  the  action  of  this  General  Assembly,  from  any  &  all  acts 
calculated  to  produce  a  collision  of  arms  between  the  States  &  the 
Government  of  the  United  States."  This  agreement  I  refused 
peremptorily  to  enter  into;  notwithstanding  Mr.  Tyler  said  in  his 
report  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia ;  "  that  her  efforts  to  recon- 
struct &  to  preserve  depended  for  their  success  on  her  being  per- 
mitted to  conduct  them  undisturbed  by  outside  collision."  "  He 
[I]  replied  that  he  [I]  had  in  no  manner  changed  his  views  as 
presented  in  his  annual  Message  &  that  he  could  give  no  pledges ; 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  enforce  the  laws  &  the  whole  power  rested 
with  Congress." 

In  truth  at  all  times  &  under  all  circumstances  &  to  all  persons 
I  kept  myself  entirely  free  to  reinforce  Major  Anderson  when- 
ever the  exigency  might  require.  In  your  letters  to  Col.  Hayne  of 
the  26  January  &  6  February  you  tell  him  explicitly  that  "  At  the 
present  moment,  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  to  reinforce  Major 
Anderson  because  he  makes  no  such  request  &  feels  quite  secure 
in  his  position.  Should  his  safety  hozvever  require  reinforcements, 
every  effort  will  be  made  to  supply  them."  In  your  letter  of  the 
6  Feb.  you  are  still  more  explicit  on  this  subject. 

General  Scott,  to  my  knowledge,  never  submitted  any  plan  on 
paper  for  the  reinforcement  of  Fort  Sumter.     Indeed,  he  told  me  at 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  179 

a  late  period  that  he  had  never  read  Major  Anderson's  Dispatches ; 
&  I  advised  him  by  all  means  to  do  so.  His  note  to  me  on  Sunday 
the  30th  December  to  send  the  250  recruits  from  New  York 
which  resulted  in  the  expedition  of  the  Star  of  the  West  is  a  curi- 
osity, which  I  shall  preserve  both  for  defence  &  as  a  memento. 
The  expedition  prepared  at  New  York  under  his  auspices  to  be 
ready  in  case  of  emergency,  I  know  little  of  in  detail.  Of  course 
it  was  blown  up  by  Major  Anderson's  Dispatches  received  on  the 
4th  March. 

I  would  thank  you  to  send  me  a  copy  of  your  communication  to 
President  Lincoln  of  the  5th  March. 

We  are  living  here  in  peace  &  quiet  where  we  should  be  most 
happy  to  see  you.  I  have  no  trouble  except  that  I  may  be  called 
upon  to  defend  myself  against  an  assault  from  General  Scott  & 
Mr.  Lincoln's  administration. 

I  am  glad  with  all  my  heart  that  its  policy  seems  to  be  pacific; 
because  I  believe  that  no  other  policy  can  preserve  &  restore  the 
Union.  Mr.  Lincoln  may  now  make  an  enviable  name  for  himself 
&  perhaps  restore  the  Union. 

Miss  Lane  desires  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
From  your  friend 

very  respectfully 
Hon.  Joseph  Holt.  James  Buchanan. 

P.S.  I  find  among  my  papers  the  enclosed  copy  of  a  letter  from 
Gov.  Pickens  to  Major  Anderson  of  the  nth  Jan.  together  with 
the  Major's  answer  of  the  same  date,  &  also  Major  Anderson's 
letter  of  the  12th  Jan.  They  belong  to  the  War  Department  & 
ought  to  be  returned  there.  They  have  been  long  since  published. 
I  do  not  know  how  they  came  into  my  possession. 

Anyone  reading  Buchanan's  reply  to  Scott  will  note  that 
it  was  Scott  and  Holt  who  considered  it  expedient  to  substitute 
the  Star  of  the  West  for  the  Brooklyn.  Major  Anderson  agreed 
upon  a  truce  with  Governor  Pickens  in  order  to  send  a  messenger 
to  Washington  to  see  what  the  move  really  meant.  Buchanan  was 
not  pleased  with  this  idea,  but  decided  to  allow  it  to  stand.8  Hayne 
was  restrained  from  handing  in  his  letter  by  the  intervention  of 
Slidell,  Fitzpatrick  and  Mallory.  In  the  meanwhile  a  very  hope- 
ful event  took  place.     Virginia  set  forth  her  plan  of   having  a 

8  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  452  et  seq. 


180         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

peace  convention  and  the  venerable  John  Tyler  came  to  Washing- 
ton to  tender  the  noble  offer  of  mediation  at  this  critical  period.9 

Hayne's  mission  (to  the  President  from  South  Carolina)  found 
the  President  standing  firmly  on  his  previous  policy.  It  is  perti- 
nent to  insert  at  this  place  some  of  the  portions  of  a  first  draft  of 
Holt's  reply  to  Senators  Slidell,  Fitzpatrick,  and  Mallory  who 
had  requested  that  the  President  consider  Hayne's  letter  from 
Pickens.  It  shows  conclusively  that  the  President  was  still  actively 
formulating  the  policy  of  the  Administration.  Holt's  abridged 
draft  may  be  found  in  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  1 26-141.  Some  of 
the  omitted  portions  in  the  other  draft  are  quoted  below.10 

Crossed  out  portion  between  the  phrase  "  on  the  defensive  " 
and  "  and  to  authorize  "  etc. 

in  protecting  and  preserving  the  public  property  of  the  United 
States  and  to  make  no  aggression  on  the  people  of  any  State. 
This  duty  however  he  must  perform  because  he  has  no  right  to 
make  a  voluntary  surrender  of  the  public  property  to  any  power, 
to  any  human  power  without  the  authority  of  Congress 

In  the  next  paragraph,  after  the  words  "  United  States  "  phrase 
crossed  out  is 

wholly  independent  of  any  question  of  State  coercion. 

Then  follows  a  whole  crossed  out  paragraph  as  follows : 

Should  South  Carolina  attack  Fort  Sumter  this  to  employ  your 
own  language  [will  be  to  employ  in  your  own  language  is  crossed 
out]  "  initiating  hostilities  "  between  her  and  the  United  States. 
South  Carolina  may  if  she  should  deem  it  ever,  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  country  to  make  war  upon  the  United  States  Fort 
Sumter,  but  should  she  do  this  it  will  be  a  war  of  aggression  on 
her  part  against  the  United  States  and  not  a  war  of  coercion  on 
the  part  of  Congress  the  United  States  to  compel  her  to  remain  in 
or  return  to  the  Union.11     The  two  cases  are  entirely  distinct. 

On  the  margin  of  the  same  sheet  also  crossed  out  is  the  follow- 
ing: 

9  L.  G.  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  587  et  seq. 
The  best  account  of  the  Peace  Conference. 

10  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  130,  H.  S.  P. 

11  Notice  Black's  opinion,  Nov.  20th. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  181 

This  will  be  on  his  part  making  war  against  the  United  States  for 
an  independent  cause  &  does  not  involve  in  the  slightest  degree 
the  question  of  State  Coercion. 

"  At  the  present  moment  "  (then  crossed  out)  "  I  am  pleased  " 
changed  to:  "  it  is  not  deemed  necessary." 
After  the  word  "  reinforcements  " 

they  shall  be  sent  although  the  harbor  of  Charleston  has  been 
obstructed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  access  to  Fort  Sumter 
very  difficult 
every  effort  will  be  made  to  supply  them 

After  "  South  Carolina  " 

unless  I  possessed  the  power  of  Congress  I  could  furnish  no 
such  assurance 

After  the  words  "  war  "  and  "  it  would  be  a  vain  pledge  wholly 
unconstitutional  "  "   an  act  of  usurpation  "  "  on  my  part,"  for  the 
Executive  "  to  pledge  himself  that  they  would  or  they  "  to  give  an 
assurance  etc. 
After  the  word  "  exist " 

suffice  it  to  say  that  they  have  hitherto  exercised  a  wise  and  dis- 
creet forbearance  on  this  subject  although  several  of  the  States, 
some  of  them  even  before  secession  have  initiated  hostilities  by 
seizing  forts  and  other  public  property  within  their  limits.lla 

Major  Anderson  is  not  "  threatening "  menacing  Charleston 
and  it  is  the  desire  of  my  heart  that  the  authorities  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  may  not  precipitate  hostilities,  by  perpetrating 
hostilities  and  cause  the  shedding  of  human  blood  in  the  necessary 
self  defence  of  his  position  .  .  .  and  I  am  convinced.  .  .  . 

The  document  was  signed  "  Holt,"  but  the  entire  paper  is  in 
Buchanan's  writing,  and  at  times  the  word  "  I  "  is  used. 

Among  other  things  the  ideas  which  appear  are :  that  Buchanan 
would  not  sympathize  with  the  South  in  a  war  for  independence ; 
that  he  was  against  aggressive  acts  against  the  "  seceded  "  States 
at  that  stage  of  the  events ;  that  he  did  not  expect  Major  Anderson 

lla  This  appears  nearly  the  same  in  "  Buchanan,"  p.  156. 
13 


182         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

to  hand  over  the  Fort  without  firing  a  shot ; llb  and  that  he  still 
had  strong  hopes  that  peaceful  settlement  was  on  the  way. 

Had  a  movement  for  peace  by  Virginia  not  appeared,  there  is 
little  doubt  that  another  expedition  would  have  gone  for  Sumter. 
Toucey  had  one  prepared  under  the  direction  of  a  man  named 
Ward.12  Warships  were  stationed  off  Fort  Pickens  to  aid  in  case 
of  attack.  This  was  the  idea  of  Buchanan  and  Holt.  Some  of 
the  rest  of  the  Cabinet  were  for  no  delay,  but  Buchanan  did  not 
know  it  at  the  time.13  The  policy  was  highly  successful.  It  pre- 
vented hostilities  during  the  Peace  Conference,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  Fort  was  never  lost  by  the  Federal  authorities.  The 
State,  to  its  credit,  also  ceased  preparations  during  the  Peace 
Conference.  There  was  no  specific  agreement  given  by  either 
side,  but  both  recognized  a  humane  obligation. 

The  Old  Dominion  now  made  a  glorious  effort  to  prevent  a 
"  Brothers'  War."  This  effort  was  begun  in  the  middle  of  Janu- 
ary. The  venerable  John  Tyler  arrived  in  Washington  to  inter- 
view Buchanan,  and  to  request  him  to  place  the  idea  before  Con- 
gress and  in  the  meanwhile  suspend  hostile  operations.     While 

llb  The  above  statement  is  further  proved  by  the  following  extract 
which  King  took  from  his  diary  and  put  in  his  book  "  Turning  on  the 
Light,"  p.  45 : 

11  February  19.  In  Cabinet  today  the  principal  matter  presented  was  an 
inquiry  from  Major  Anderson,  in  charge  of  Fort  Sumter,  at  Charleston, 
what  he  should  do  in  the  event  of  the  floating  battery  understood  to  have 
been  constructed  at  Charleston  being  towed  toward  the  fort  with  the 
evident  purpose  of  attack.  The  President  wished  time  to  consider.  Mr. 
Holt  asked  what  he  would  do,  or  rather  what  Major  Anderson  ought  to 
do,  in  case  he  were  in  charge  of  a  fort  and  the  enemy  should  commence 
undermining  it.  The  President  answered  that  he  should  '  crack  away  at 
them.'  The  President,  however,  is  very  reluctant  to  fire  the  first  gun.  The 
Peace  Convention,  he  said,  was  now  in  session  in  this  city,  and  its 
president,  ex-President  Tyler,  had  this  morning  assured  him  that  no  attack 
would  be  made  on  the  fort.  The  President  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  fort  would  eventually  be  taken." 

12  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  620-622. 

13  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  212. 

The  fleet  could  not  have  gotten  near  during  high  sea,  but  a  shot  by  the 
State  would  have  made  the  fort  another  Sumter,  and  the  fleet  then  would 
have  shelled  the  fort  at  the  first  opportunity. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  183 

Buchanan  refused  to  make  any  promises  which  might  tie  his  hands 
in  regard  to  Fort  Sumter,14  he  welcomed  the  move  at  such  a 
critical    period    with    unaffected    gratitude.     President    and    ex- 
President  worked  and  hoped  for  a  peaceful  outcome. 
Mrs.  Tyler  wrote: 

Mr.  Buchanan  (the  President)  spent  the  evening  in  our  parlor 
evening  before  last.  .  .  .  He  first  wrote  the  President  a  letter  full 
of  gratitude  for  the  relief  he  had  afforded  him  in  probably  pre- 
venting, through  his  influence  at  Charleston,  the  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter.  .  .  .15 

Buchanan  sent  an  able  and  hopeful  message,  accompanying  the 
Resolutions,  to  Congress  urging  them  to  forward  the  cause  of 
compromise,  and  to  abstain  from  acts  of  violence  while  such 
efforts  were  in  progress.16  An  interesting  letter  on  the  situation 
is  here  inserted  written  by  the  brother  of  Major  Anderson,  who 
had  been  both  at  Charleston  and  Washington,  and  thus  saw  both 
sides  of  the  situation  at  first  hand.17 

My  dear  Brother 

I  am  still  here.  I  wish  to  go  home,  but  cannot  make  up  my 
mind  to  do  so — so  long  as  I  see  any  chance  of  doing  good.  I  do 
not  know  how  far  my  efforts  to  ameliorate  your  condition,  &  keep 
the  peace  for  awhile,  in  hopes  of  a  pacific  settlement,  may  have 
been  successful.  I  fear  that  you  may  not  enjoy  the  full  benefits 
intended — that  the  relaxations  are  not  real  reliefs  &  that  there  is 
more  promise  than  performance  in  your  market  facilities.  I  trust 
that  I  am  deceived  in  this  apprehension.  The  principal  relief,  I 
suppose,  that  could  be  afforded  you,  would  be  the  suspension  of 
hostile  proceedings  in  your  neighborhood.  Whether  this  can  be 
accomplished  or  not,  I  do  not  know.  It  may  be  I  believe,  but  I 
am  not  yet  aware  of  the  proper  agency.  What  the  steps  now 
taken  by  Virginia  will  result  in,  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but 
there  is  hope  in  them  of  general  good.  I  do  not  like  it  that  you 
should  be  left  without  reinforcements,  but,  under  the  present 
circumstances  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  done  without  producing 
an  immediate  break-out  of  war,  which  something,  that  may  evolve 

14  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  p.  113. 

15  L.  G.  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  613. 

16  Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  113-119.  Kentucky  Resolutions,  Moore,  Vol.  XI, 
pp.  124-125. 

17  Marked,  "  Received  Jan.  24,  1861." 


184         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

itself  within  the  next  Forty  days,  might  prevent.  It  is  clear  to  me 
that  the  ultra-Republicans  wish  a  collision,  while  the  lovers  of 
Union  desire  more  time  for  conciliation — not  from  Congress  but 
from  the  people.  In  the  meanwhile  you  are  left  in  the  most  dif- 
ficult &  delicate  of  positions — God  grant  you  wisdom  still  to  do 
the  part  of  a  soldier,  a  patriot,  &  a  Christian. 

Mr.  Crittenden  is  said  to  have  made  a  glorious  speech  in  secret 
Session  yesterday,  in  which  he  vindicated  you,  from  some  criticism, 
in  the  handsomest  and  most  eloquent  manner.  It  was  on  the 
subject  of  the  confirmation  of  Mr.  Holt's  nomination  as  Secy  of 
War.  He  paid  high  compliments  to  Mr.  H.  also.  The  nomina- 
tion was  confirmed  by  a  large  majority.  If  the  need  of  aid,  for 
your  security,  is  greater  than  the  need  of  time,  for  the  keeping  off 
of  war,  I  doubt  not  what  would  be  the  result.  Your  wife  writes 
me  in  better  spirits. 

I  commend  you  to  our  Father  in  Heaven, — may  he  bless  & 
keep  you. 

The  Genl  was  too  unwell — with  Influenza — to  see  me  today. 
He  always  speaks  of  you  as  if  you  were  his  son.     Ever  your  Bro. 

L.  A. 

Just  before  the  calling  of  the  convention  the  guns  of  Fort 
Monroe  18  were  turned  in  the  direction  of  Virginia.  Tyler  natu- 
rally protested  this  act  at  a  time  when  he  was  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  preserve  the  peace.19  At  this  time  Buchanan  wrote  Holt 
the  following  letter : 20 

Washington,  30  January,  1861. 
My  dear  Sir  : 

It  is  time  we  should  have  decided  whether  it  is  practicable,  with 
the  means  in  our  power,  considering  the  obstacles  enterposed  in 
the  harbor  of  Charleston  to  reinforce  Major  Anderson  at  Fort 
Sumter,  should  the  action  of  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  or 
his  request  render  this  necessary.  The  high  military  attentment 
and  just  reputation  of  Lieutenant  General  Scott  render  his  advice 
on  this  subject  of  the  greatest  importance.  Should  reinforcement 
be  deemed  practible,  then  in  consultation  with  him  a  plan  ought  to 
be  devised  in  advance  to  accomplish  the  object.  I  should  be 
grateful  to  see  General  Scott,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  your- 
self at  12  o'clock  today  or  any  other  hour  most  convenient  to 

18  See  King,  "  Turning  on  the  Light,"  pp.  58,  59. 

19  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  591. 

20  Holt  Papers,  L.  C  The  draft  in  Moore  does  not  say  anything  about 
Fort  Monroe.     Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  123,  124. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  185 

yourself  to  talk  over  this  and  other  matters.  On  the  evening  of 
Mr.  Tyler's  departure  (the  28th  inst.)  I  received  a  note  from  him 
from  which  the  following  is  an  extract :  "  Will  you  pardon  me  for 
calling  your  attention  to  the  rumors  contained  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  morning  which  state  that  active  proceedings  are  in  course 
of  execution  at  Fortress  Monroe,  in  planting  cannon  upon  the 
Land  side  of  the  Fort  with  their  muzzles  turned  landward  and 
overlooking  the  country.  If  this  be  so,  Mr.  President,  is  such 
proceeding  either  appropriate  or  well  timed?  I  shall  do  no  more 
than  call  your  attention  to  the  circumstance  and  leave  it  with  out 
comment  with  this  single  remark  that  when  Virginia  is  making 
every  possible  effort  to  redeem  and  save  the  Union  it  is  seemingly 
ungracious  to  have  cannon  levelled  at  her  bosom."  In  my  answer 
of  the  same  evening  I  stated :  "  I  shall  make  it  a  point  to  inquire 
tomorrow  evening  into  the  rumors  in  the  newspapers  to  which  you 
refer  in  relation  to  Fortress  Monroe."  I  have  made  enquiries 
but  without  any  specified  result. 
Hon.  J.  Holt.  Your  friend  very  respectfully 

James  Buchanan. 

The  Peace  Congress  continued  until  nearly  the  end  of  Bu- 
chanan's term.  Attempts  were  made  to  continue  a  plan  something 
like  the  Missouri  line,  which  had  failed  in  Congress,  although 
sponsored  by  earnest  patriots  like  Crittenden.  It  appears  in  spite 
of  varying  accounts  21  that  it  failed  because  the  conciliatory  group 

21  Tyler,  "Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  605-617; 
Buchanan,  pp.  145-170. 

Davis  states  that  Buchanan  through  Hunter  had  consented  to  receive  a 
commissioner  from  the  Confederates  to  refer  to  Congress.  Curtis  denies 
this  (Vol.  II,  pp.  487-489).  Buchanan  may  have  said  something  which 
led  Hunter  to  hope  for  it  while  the  Peace  Convention  was  in  session. 
Crawford  arrived  when  prospects  had  fallen.  Buchanan  did  not  receive 
him.  The  whole  matter  rests  with  Senator  Hunter.  Crawford  was  very 
displeased  at  his  lack  of  success,  and  wrote  a  characteristic  attack  on 
Buchanan. 

In  order  to  stifle  any  complaint  for  neglect,  and  because  Black  and 
Holt  urged  him,  Buchanan  and  Scott  scoured  around  and  found  a  few 
troops  mostly  from  West  Point  to  act  as  a  posse  comitatus  during  Lincoln's 
Inauguration.  Part  of  these  arrived  by  February  22d  when  they  prepared 
to  parade.  Tyler  ("Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  p.  615),  who  felt 
handicapped  in  his  peace  efforts  at  such  a  display  in  Washington  while 
he  was  directing  the  Peace  Congress,  protested  and  Buchanan  ordered  the 
parade   to  be   cancelled.     Sickles,    however,    protested   to    Buchanan   and 


186         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

of  the  Republicans  could  not  get  the  radical  wing  into  line.  Tyler 
made  a  last  plea  for  the  President  to  remove  the  troops  from  Sum- 
ter which  he,  as  in  the  case  of  previous  requests,  declined.  Lin- 
coln had  by  this  time  arrived.  One  of  Buchanan's  last  acts  was 
to  sign  the  Morrill  Tariff,  although  he  was  not  entirely  pleased 
with  it.  Stephens  says  that  he  found  Buchanan  had  decided  upon 
more  protection  in  i860.  It  was  this  problem  that  pushed  Penn- 
sylvania out  of  the  Democratic  column.  A  split  might  have 
occurred  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  portions  of  the 
party,  had  not  slavery  arisen,  on  the  tariff  question. 

While  neither  Buchanan's  philosophy  nor  his  policy  had  changed 
since  December,  he  and  leaders  of  the  South  had  drifted  apart. 
While  he  cherished  an  earnest  wish  to  avert  the  horrors  of  civil 
war,  he  seems  to  have  felt  that  some  of  the  Southern  leaders  had 
deserted  him.  For  the  sake  of  peace,  and  to  give  them  a  fair 
adjustment,  he  had  breasted  the  radical  portion  of  Northern  opin- 
ion, and  had  told  Davis  he  would  not  be  surprised  to  find  his  home 
in  ashes  when  he  reached  it.22  Like  Webster,  he  had  sacrificed 
much,  and  he  felt  he  had  not  been  fairly  dealt  with.  Speaking  to 
Tyler  in  February,23 

He  complained  that  the  South  had  not  treated  him  properly; 
that  they  had  made  unnecessary  demonstrations  by  seizing  unpro- 
tected arsenals  and  forts,  and  thus  perpetrating  acts  of  useless 
bravado  which  had  been  quite  as  well  let  alone. 

The  following  draft  of  a  letter  to  Joshua  Bates  in  England, 
written  just  after  Sumter,  reveals  the  same  feelings : 

...  I  was  seventy  years  of  age  on  the  23d  April  last  and  should 
be  perfectly  happy  in  my  retirement  were  it  not  for  the  troubles  of 
our  country.     As  an  American  citizen  I  know  you  feel  them  deeply. 

Holt  that  there  was  nothing  unusual  in  it  and  the  order  to  cancel  the 
parade  was  rescinded.     (King,  "Turning  on  the  Light,"  Chap.  V). 

There  was  opposition  to  having  troops  brought  into  the  city  made  by 
some  persons  in  Congress,  just  as  others  would  have  complained  had  none 
been  brought.  At  Holt's  suggestion  Buchanan  wrote  a  message  of  ex- 
planation (Moore,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  152,  153).  Talk  of  conspiracy  was  rife, 
but  a  committee  found  no  conclusive  evidence. 

22  Davis,    "  Rise   and    Fall   of    Confederate   Government,"   p.   265,   note. 
The  papers  reported  similar  remarks.     The  idea  that  Buchanan  always 

catered  to  public  opinion  is  here  refuted. 

23  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Vol.  II,  p.  588. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  187 

The  South  had  many  grievances  of  which  to  complain,  not  from 
any  action  of  the  Federal  Government,  which  had  never  done  them 
the  slightest  actual  injury,  but  from  the  intemperate  zeal  of  the 
State  Legislatures  and  abolitionists  of  the  North,  and  their  inter- 
ference with  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  with 
Southern  Slavery  generally.  The  time  had  arrived,  however, 
when  all  this  was  passing  away,  and  although  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
been  elected  President,  there  was  a  majority  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress  to  sustain  their  Constitutional  rights.  Besides,  the  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  in  their 
favor.  In  the  face  of  these  facts,  they  determined  to  secede,  and 
became  intensely  hostile  to  myself  for  having  presented  them  in 
my  annual  message  of  December  last.  They  repudiated  my  argu- 
ments against  the  claimed  right  of  Secession,  and  rushed  headlong 
to  their  own  ruin  whatever  may  be  the  final  event.  There  still 
might  have  been  hopes  of  reconstruction  for  the  Union  without 
employing  force  for  this  purpose,  had  they  not  causelessly  com- 
menced the  war  themselves  by  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  which  was 
doing  them  no  harm  and  was  not  intended  to  do  them  harm.  This 
act  has  thoroughly  aroused  the  North  &  united  them  almost  as  one 
man.  Indeed  it  is  estimated  that  three-fourths  who  have  rushed 
to  the  defence  of  our  time  honored  &  glorious  flag  are  Democrats 
who  had  always  maintained  constitutional  rights  of  the  South  on 
the  question  of  Domestic  Slavery.  I  have  observed  with  pain  & 
regret  the  course  of  the  British  Government  against  us  &  in  favor 
of  the  revolutionists  &  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic. 
It  would  seem  that  Louis  Napoleon  inclines  to  the  opposite  course. 

To  his  nephew  he  also  wrote  often,  saying  that  while  all  were 
for  peace,  they  could  not  recognize  independence. 

They  have  behaved  so  badly  as  to  have  forfeited  the  regard  of 
the  masses  of  the  Northern  Democracy  &  I  confess  I  sympathize 
with  them  in  this  respect.24 

With  equal  zeal,  however,  he  always  believed  in  giving  the 
South  all  her  old  rights  if  she  would  return  to  the  Union. 

At  last  the  day  of  Lincoln's  Inauguration  arrived. 

Buchanan  spent  most  of  the  morning  signing  bills,  then  hurried 
to  ride  with  Lincoln  to  the  Inauguration.  Apprehensions  of  vi- 
olence had  filled  the  minds  of  many.  Speaking  of  the  incident,  a 
contemporary  has  said : 

24  Draft  of  letter,  Buchanan  to  Henry,  Buchanan,  July  n,  1861,  H.  S.  P. 


188         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  most  timid  of  peace-loving  Quakers,  the  presence  of  the  out- 
going side  by  side  in  the  open  barouche  with  the  in-coming  Presi- 
dent, dispelled  all  fears  of  a  day  of  war.  Under  the  circumstances 
this  ride  of  Buchanan  with  Lincoln  was  a  courageous  act  of 
official  courtesy.  It  was  the  exception  to  what  the  custom  had 
been  in  such  cases,  and  being  unexpected  it  attracted  the  special 
notice  and  admiration  of  friends  and  foe.25 

At  last  he  was  to  be  relieved  of  the  burden  of  holding  the  gov- 
ernment for  a  party  whose  policy  was  looked  forward  to  with 
fear  and  dread  by  over  a  third  of  the  country.  Another  con- 
temporary speaking  of  him  on  this  day  remarked  : 

Buchanan  appeared  pale  and  wearied;  yet  his  face  beamed  with 
radiance,  for  he  felt  relieved  from  the  crushing  care  and  anxiety 
which  he  had  borne  for  four  years  during  seasons  of  great  peril.26 

At  the  different  towns  through  Maryland  and  southern  Penn- 
sylvania on  Buchanan's  homeward  journey  he  received  ovations. 
Before  he  left  Washington  he  remarked,  in  regard  to  Southern 
opposition  to  Lincoln,  that 

he  saw  no  occasion  for  it,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  really  intended  them  well 
and  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  present  administration  would 
be  a  peaceful  administration.27 

Even  at  Lancaster,  a  town  belonging  to  his  political  opponents, 
he  was  greeted  with  deep  regard  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  time.28 

For  a  time  his  policy  was  continued,  but  at  last  Lincoln  changed 
his  ground. 

Any  person  who  cares  to  go  into  the  subject,  or  even  by  glancing 

2,5  Outlook,  Vol.  127,  p.  218.  "  Honest  Abe  and  the  Little  Giant,"  G.  B. 
Wallis. 

26  The  Atnerican  National,  Cleveland,  Vol.  II,  pp.  824-825,  edited  by  J. 
H.  Kennedy;  authors,  B.  J.  Lossing,  J.  K.  Upton,  H.  G.  Riddle,  J.  V. 
Cooley. 

The  above  article  was  probably  by  Lossing  who  was  in  Washington  at 
the  time. 

27  A  very  complete  account  is  given  in  a  paper  published  at  Towsontown, 
Maryland,  found  among  Buchanan's  papers.     H.  S.  P. 

28  See  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  506-512,  for  his  homecoming  at  Lancaster. 


THE  PASSING  OF  AN  ERA  189 

at  the  works  of  Tyler  28a  or  Connor,28b  can  easily  trace  the  steps  by 
which  Lincoln  gradually  came  to  favor  the  radical  element  in  his 
party  and  decided  on  a  policy  liable  to  invoke  hostilities.280  A 
radical  Republican  committee  organized  to  criticize  the  govern- 
ment, after  spending  a  page  or  so  abusing  Buchanan's  policy,  add- 
ing the  following  significant  paragraph  on  its  own  administra- 
tion: 

Mr.  Lincoln  assumed  the  government  on  the  fourth  of  March 
1 86 1 ;  although  the  affairs  were  very  threatening  at  the  South  and 
the  insurrection  was  rapidly  gaining  ground,  yet  no  measure  seems 
to  have  been  adopted  and  no  movement  made  for  the  security  of 
the  yard  until  the  ioth  day  of  April.29 

This  is  evidence  that  at  first  Lincoln  and  Seward  considered  it 
wise  to  follow  Buchanan's  policy.  The  change  later  was  due  to 
radical  pressure  in  their  own  party. 

During  the  war  which  followed,  Buchanan  as  a  citizen  in  the 
North,  gave  the  government  loyal  support.  His  attitude  was  well 
summarized  by  John  Sherman,  who  was  a  personal  rather  than  a 
political  friend : 

He  said  he  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  war  but  now  that 
it  was  upon  us,  it  was  the  duty  of  all  patriotic  people  to  make  it 
a  success,  that  he  approved  all  that  had  been  done  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
of  whom  he  spoke  in  high  terms  of  praise.30 

He  gave  subscriptions  for  the  Soldiers'  Relief,  sustained  the 
Draft  Law,  wrote  the  history  of  his  Administration,  and  took  an 
active  interest  in  politics  up  to  the  week  of  his  death.  Indeed,  the 
last  part  of  his  life  was  not  uninteresting  but  it  does  not  fall 
within  the  scope  of  this  study. 

28a  L.  G.  Tyler,  "  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,"  Richmond,  1885. 

28b  Henry    G.    Connor.    John    Archibald    Campbell,    New    York,    1921. 

Mary  Scrugham,  "  Peaceable  Americans,"  1860-61,  New  York,  1922. 

28c  E.g.,  see  quotations  in  Grierson's  "  Lincoln  the  Practical  Mystic." 

In  critical  moments  Lincoln  had  an  excellent  supply  of  intuition. 
Lincoln's  motives  were  not  in  the  main  economic,  but  born  of  religious 
ideas.  At  times  he  seemed  to  leap  into  the  dark,  but  his  career  shows  that 
these  acts  were  of  the  nature  of  an  inspiration. 

29  37th  Congress,  2d  session,  Senate  Report  No.  37,  p.  5. 

80 John  Sherman,  "Recollections  of  Forty  Years,"  New  York,  1895. 

This  did  not  mean  that  he  favored  all  of  his  political  policies  by  any 
means.    Buchanan  remained  a  Democrat  to  the  last. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Some  Salient  Points  and  Conclusions 

Some  Salient  Points  and  Conclusions — Buchanan's  Policy  a  Suc- 
cess— His  Characteristics — Economic  Interests — Two  Vital  Fac- 
tors of  Conduct,  Political  Ideals  and  Religious  Convictions — 
The  Theory  of  Natural  Rights — The  Machinery  of  Union — State 
Rights  in  1867— The  Federal  Compact,  the  True  Basis  of  the 
Union  as  Instituted  by  the  Founders — Buchanan's  Religious  Na- 
ture and  Its  Inevitable  Influence  on  His  Policy — No  Other  Course 
Psychologically  Possible — Observations  on  the  Civil  War — A 
Tribute  and  an  Appeal. 

Buchanan  had  every  reason  to  congratulate  himself  on  the  suc- 
cess of  his  policy.1  His  main  aim,  to  give  things  a  peaceful  di- 
rection, and  prevent  the  opening  of  a  terrible  "  Brothers'  War," 
had  been  accomplished  midst  terrific  difficulties.  At  the  same 
time,  he  had  held  the  Northern  members  of  his  Cabinet  in  his 
cabinet  save  one,  thus  preventing  the  disintegration  of  his  Ad- 
ministration. No  official  recognition  had  been  given  the  seceded 
States,  so  that  his  successor  was  under  no  commitment  in  that 
regard.  Some  Federal  property  had  been  taken,  but  other  points 
had  been  reinforced.  No  stone  had  been  left  unturned  to  promote 
measures  of  compromise  that  would  be  fair  to  all  concerned.     The 

1  A  conservative  Northern  writer,  who  took  Buchanan  to  task  for  his 
too  favorable  attitude  toward  coercion,  sums  up  his  position  in  i860  as 
follows : 

".  .  .  His  condition  as  President  at  that  time  was  a  very  trying  and 
perplexing  one.  Elected  as  a  Democrat  upon  principles  that  always  gave 
satisfaction  to  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  he  would  desire  to  fight  with  the  South  the  battle  of  the  Republican 
party.  The  genuine  Democratic  party  and  the  South  had  no  quarrel ;  and 
James  Buchanan,  belonging  to  that  school  had  none  either.  Should  he 
provoke  a  war  with  the  South  during  the  remnant  of  his  term  of  office? 
Surely  not.  He  and  his  party  had  done  all  in  their  power  to  avert  the 
calamity  then  coming  upon  the  country,  and  were  able  to  settle  the  troubles 
if  they  had  the  power.  But  that  had  passed  from  their  hands,  and  it  was 
the  new  power  that  the  South  designed  to  resist.  Not  the  nation  did 
they  mean  to  resist,  but  simply  the  power  of  the  Republican  party." — Harris, 
"  Biog.  Hist,  of  Lancaster  County,"  p.  112. 
190 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS        191 

public  was  rapidly  becoming  quieted  and  reconciled  to  the  idea 
that  the  Union  could  be  saved  without  a  "  Brothers'  War."  The 
President  had  also  escaped  the  pitfalls  of  the  Republicans,  by 
standing  firmly  on  his  constitutional  prerogatives,  both  in  dealing 
with  Congress  and  the  Southern  States.  Few  men  beset  by  so 
many  chances  of  pitfall  have  ever  managed  to  extricate  themselves 
so  skillfully. 

In  the  social  realm  of  public  affairs  Buchanan's  Administration 
has  had  few  rivals.  Miss  Harriet  Lane  ranks  as  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  "  First  Ladies  of  the  Land."  2  At  Lancaster,  Bu- 
chanan kept  open  house  with  democratic  simplicity ;  at  Washing- 
ton his  levees  were  like  those  of  a  European  Monarch.3 

Buchanan  was  a  born  courtier.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he 
carried  his  head  on  one  side,  due  to  oblique  eyesight,  he  was  a 
distinguished-looking  man.4  Being  a  master  of  the  art  of  con- 
versation,5 he  was  a  social  favorite.  Even  one  of  his  worst 
critics,  Von  Hoist,  admits  that  he  was  a  perfect  gentleman. 

The  chief  characteristics  that  Buchanan  manifested  in  his 
public  and  private  career  seem  to  me  to  have  been :  a  strong 
sense  of  duty,  manifesting  itself  in  a  desire  to  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  America  as  he  understood  it ;  strong  religious 
feeling  and  sense  of  accountability  to  the  Diety  for  his  acts ; 
humaneness,  gentleness,  a  tendency  to  forgive  rather  than  to 
blame,  thrift  without  meanness,  suavity  combined  with  quiet  per- 
sistence, and  the  knack  of  getting  his  way  without  seeming  to  do 
so ;  quiet  but  invincible  obstinacy  in  holding  to  his  lines  of  policy ; 
great  circumspection  and  prudence,  combined  with  a  genius  for 
intrigue  and  organizing  ability,  which  made  him  a  political  leader ; 
a  strong  memory,  combined  with  a  natural  gift  for  dialectic  rea- 
soning, which  made  him  an  able  lawyer  and  diplomat.  By  tem- 
perament he  was  well  balanced,  sometimes  swayed  by  sentiment, 
but  never  by  passion.  All  of  these  characteristics  served  to  make 
him  an  ideal  public  servant. 

Another  reason  for  his  policy  was  his  concern  over  the  eco- 

2  Laura  Holloway,  "  Ladies  of  the  White  House,"  pp.  498-525. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  515. 

4  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  672. 

5  A.  D.  White's  Autobiography,  Vol.  I,  pp.  72-73. 


192         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

nomic  ruin  that  war  would  bring  upon  the  country.  James  Bu- 
chanan, thrifty  and  reasonably  well  off  in  worldly  goods,  was 
bound  to  notice  this  phase  of  the  question  in  more  detail  than 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  never  a  business  success.  Buchanan 
had,  in  1856-1857,  a  private  income  of  about  six  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  His  wealth,  the  result  of  inheritance,  and  judicious  in- 
vestments (he  did  not  speculate),  made  from  the  large  returns 
of  his  legal  practice,  which  had  enabled  him  to  retire  before  forty. 
Thrifty  and  exact  in  his  personal  expenditures,  he  was  extremely 
honest,  taking  great  care  in  reporting  all  his  items  of  personal  tax, 
and  in  keeping  his  accounts  to  the  last  cent.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  was  a  very  humane  creditor,  and  ready  to  give  to  worthy 
causes  of  charity. 

To  those  persons  who  hold  that  economic  motives  are  the  de- 
termining factor  in  human  conduct,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of 
Buchanan's  devotion  to  the  Union.  He  held  bonds  on  the  seced- 
ing States  which,  of  course,  became  valueless  after  their  secession. 
He  also  owned  property  in  southern  Pennsylvania,  which  was 
overrun  by  the  enemy  during  the  war. 

Most  of  his  wealth  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  in  railroad 
bonds  and  mortgages.  His  total  estate  was  valued  at  three  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  which  was  rather  a  good  income  in  those 
days.6  Not  even  his  worst  foes  could  find  a  flaw  in  his  integrity. 
He  spent  more  when  in  the  White  House  than  he  received  from 
his  salary. 

On  the  back  of  a  paper  he  noted  sentiments  similar  to  those  in 
his  book,  which  bear  out  the  remarks  above.7 

The  result  of  civil  war  to  preserve  it  doubtful  and  the  blood- 
shed and  burdens  on  the  people 

.  .  .  doubtful  whether  the  union  could  be  preserved  by  civil  war 
and  if  it  could  the  bloodshed,  taxes,  and  disaster  etc.  it  would 
ensue. 

Some  impromptu  speeches  he  made  on  a  visit  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  1859  showed  the  same  attitude  on  the  waste  of  war. 

Throughout  this  study  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  show  that 
Buchanan's  policy  during  his  Administration  was,  in  view  of  his 

6  Tables  appeared  in  the  local  papers.     Clippings,  H.  S.  P. 

7  H.  S.  P. 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS       193 

past  and  professed  opinions,  not  only  natural  but  inevitable.  By 
way  of  summary,  a  brief  review  of  two  phases  of  bis  thought 
will  be  presented  to  bring  this  assertion  into  strong  relief.  These 
elements  were  of  the  utmost  importance  in  his  life.  They  were : 
first,  his  political  philosophy  or  creed,  and,  more  important  still, 
his  religious  nature. 

An  interesting  manuscript,  not  dated,  but  which  by  its  contents 
indicates  that  it  was  a  draft  of  an  address  delivered  some  time 
before  Buchanan  became  President,8  gives  an  able  and  clear- 
cut  commentary  to  Buchanan's  political  philosophy.  It  is  the 
more  important  as  it  was  not  delivered  on  a  political  occasion, 
but  at  a  commencement  of  Dickinson  College.  The  main  theme 
was  the  utility  and  necessity  of  education  in  a  Democracy,  and 
was  a  plea  for  State  maintained  secondary  schools, — a  topic  dis- 
cussed at  that  time  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  not  labored  like  some 
of  Buchanan's  speeches,  written  to  avoid  attack,  and  is  therefore 
a  clear-cut  expression  of  his  views. 

In  the  following  passage  will  be  found  his  idea  of  the  u  Natu- 
ral Rights  "  philosophy,  which  had  been  popular  as  an  historical 
as  well  as  political  truth  in  the  days  of  '76. 

To  be  kept  in  regular  motion,  the  relative  rights  of  the  Union 
&  of  the  States  can  only  be  preserved  inviolate  by  an  enlight- 
ened &  intelligent  people. 

.  .  .  Besides  vice  is  the  natural  companion  of  ignorance.  Al- 
though poets  have  presented  to  us  the  most  glorious  pictures  of 
man  in  a  state  of  nature,  although  they  have  described  that  state 
as  the  golden  age  of  the  human  race;  yet  history  &  experience 
have  taught  us  that  these  are  but  dreams  of  fancy  &  that  man  in 
his  savage  state  is  selfish  &  that  his  heart  burns  with  fierce  &  un- 
governable passions.  Education  is  as  necessary  to  correct  his 
heart  as  to  inform  his  understanding.  Virtue  &  knowledge  must 
unite  &  exert  their  joint  influence  over  the  American  people,  or 
our  Republic  must  fall  the  prey  to  some  factious  demagogue  or 
some  military  ursurper. 

Democracy,  therefore,  was  to  be  won  by  long  evolution  and 
training.  The  Abolitionists  were  preaching  that  it  was  the  birth- 
right of  all,  regardless  of  race  or  creed.     The  difference  is  ap- 

8  Probably  in  the  forties  or  early  fifties. 


194         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

parent.     In  another  portion  of  the  speech  Buchanan  explained 
the  whole  system  of  Union  as  he  understood  it. 

We  became  independent;  and  we  have  established  the  most 
perfect ;  but  at  the  same  time,  the  most  complicated  form  of  Gov- 
ernment which  the  world  ever  witnessed.  We  have  reduced  into 
successful  practice,  that  which  had  been  considered  impracticable, 
an  imperium  in  imperio.  We  have  constituted  a  General  Gov- 
ernment, to  manage  the  common  interest  of  the  whole  American 
people;  whilst  we  have  established  twenty-four  State  sovereign- 
ties, to  take  care  of  the  individual  or  separate  interests  of  the 
people  within  their  respective  territorial  jurisdiction.  The  at- 
traction of  the  General  Government  ought  to  be  no  greater  than  is 
sufficient  to  preserve  the  States  within  their  proper  orbits.  Should 
the  day  ever  arrive  when  its  influence  shall  become  so  powerful 
as  to  draw  the  States  within  its  vortex,  and  to  consolidate  them 
with  itself,  the  glory  of  our  Republic  will  then  be  at  an  end.  .  .  . 
On  the  other  hand,  disunion  is  equally  to  be  dreaded  with  con- 
solidation. The  freedom  and  happiness  of  the  American  people 
are  equally  at  war  with  both.  Should  the  tendency  towards  dis- 
union become  too  powerful  to  be  controlled  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, then  the  States 

will  run  lawless  through  the  void, 
Destroying  others,  by  themselves  destroyed. 

This  complex  Government,  in  all  its  various  branches,  springs 
from  the  people,  and  must  be  sustained  by  the  people.  Each 
elector  in  this  country  is  a  sovereign,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
word.  He  is  answerable  to  no  tribunal,  but  that  of  God  and  his 
own  conscience,  for  his  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage.  This 
nicely  balanced  machine,  therefore,  can  only  .  .  .  (not  clear) 
.  .  .  State.  Shall  we  patiently  behold  other  States  contesting  for 
that  moral  power  in  the  Union  which  must  ever  spring  from 
knowledge,  without  making  a  single  effort  in  the  glorious  cause 
of  education.     I  trust  not.     I  hope  for  better  things. 

The  American  System  was  a  new  political  wonder.  It  was  to  be 
venerated  and  cherished.  It  was  very  evident  to  Buchanan,  how- 
ever, that  it  could  not  stand  violent  convulsions  without  giving  up 
the  spirit  that  made  it.  His  prophetic  prediction  of  the  devasta- 
tion which  would  be  incurred  in  case  of  a  civil  war,  wherein 
Pennsylvania  would  be  another  Flanders,  was  strikingly  fulfilled. 

The  following  statement  was  made  in  1867,     Therein  Buchanan 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS       195 

shows  the  effect  of  the  war  period,  together  with  the  same  abid- 
ing trust  that  the  Democratic  Party  was  still  destined  to  play  an 
important  role  in  the  history  of  the  new  Nation. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  cast  odium  on  the  doctrine  of 
State  rights  by  falsely  attributing  to  it  the  dangerous  heresy  of 
Secession.  This  never  was  a  State  right  because  entirely  incon- 
sistent with  the  very  nature  of  the  obligations  into  which  all  the 
States  entered  with  each  other  by  the  Formation  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  If  admitted,  it  would  make  the  Union  a  mere  rope 
of  Sand  instead  of  a  great  and  powerful  Government.  Happily 
the  claim  has  now  been  forever  extinguished.  The  Democratic 
party  springs  naturally  out  of  the  very  essence  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  and  must  exist  as  long  as  it  shall  endure.  Let  any 
man  take  up  the  Bill  of  Rights  which  our  ancestors  deemed  neces- 
sary to  limit  and  restrict  federal  power  and  read  it  line  by  line 
and  there  he  will  see  [not  clear]  embodied  most  of  the  principles 
of  the  Democratic  party.  I  shall  not  go  into  the  detail,  having 
already  proceeded  much  further  than  I  had  intended.9 

Upon  the  nature  of  the  Federal  Compact,  Black  related  the  fol- 
lowing in  1881.10 

But  after  the  election  (i860)  he  asked  me  whether  the  argu- 
ments which  had  been  used  to  favor  the  right  of  secession  long 
ago  in  New  England  and  South  Carolina  had  made  any  impres- 
sion on  my  mind.  I  replied,  "  None  whatever."  He  said  that 
he  was  extremely  glad  that  I  did  not  believe  the  Federal  compact 
to  be  like  an  article  of  partnership  between  private  persons  which 
could  be  dissolved  by  anyone  who  was  dissatisfied,  and  wished  to 
retire  from  the  business.  I  asked  him  how  he  could  suppose  that 
such  an  absurdity  could  get  into  my  head.  He  said  it  had  got 
into  the  heads  of  other  men  who  were  very  sound  on  other  sub- 
jects and  instanced  Rawle  of  Philadelphia.  "  But,"  he  said,  "  no 
matter  for  that,  we  are  in  accord  and  that  is  enough.  It  is  easy 
to  demonstrate  that  this  secession  theory  is  without  any  logical  or 
legal  foundation."  He  said  he  was  not  without  confidence  that 
he  could  make  the  truth  too  clear  to  be  resisted  by  the  Southern 
men  themselves. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  his  message  Buchanan  held  that  if  the 
North  kept  on  violating  the  compact,  it  plainly  constituted  moral 

9  On  the  back  of  a  dinner  invitation,  1867. 

10  Philadelphia  Press,  August  21,  1881,  by  Burr. 


196         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

justification  for  the  South  to  secede.  Rawle  wrote,  long  before 
Calhoun.     He  was  a  Federalist,  and  a  resident  of  Philadelphia. 

Buchanan  criticized  the  officers  of  West  Point  for  joining  the 
Confederacy : 1X 

Whilst  I  can  imagine  why  an  officer  might  resign  rather  than 
shed  the  blood  of  citizens  of  his  native  state  in  war,  yet  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  excuse  or  palliate  the  next  step  which  is  to  go  over  to  the 
enemy  and  make  war  upon  the  time  honored  flag  of  the  country. 

This  was  unjust  because  Rawle's  book  12  was  used  as  a  text-book 
at  West  Point,  and  taught  the  priority  of  state  over  Federal  al- 
legiance. 

An  incisive  answer  to  the  oft-repeated  query  as  to  what  the 
"  Fathers "  thought,  is  contained  in  the  following  very  valuable 
statement  of  Thompson.  It  throws  into  strong  relief  the  attitude 
of  Buchanan,  Davis,  and  Black  upon  the  problem  that  confronted 
them. 

Davis  was  a  Secessionist  and  never  sought  to  disguise  it.  He 
was  outspoken  on  all  occasions.  Black  on  the  contrary,  was 
bitterly  opposed  to  it  and  was  equally  frank.  Their  arguments 
were  long,  frequent  and  exhaustive.  His  (Buchanan's)  views 
too  were  well  known  to  me.  I  have  heard  him  express  himself 
a  hundred  times  and  can  define  his  position  exactly.  In  reply  to 
those  who  would  urge  the  right  of  the  States  to  secede  he  would 
say,  "  I  find  no  such  right  declared  in  the  Constitution." 

When  it  was  argued  that  no  constitutional  right  was  claimed, 
and  that  it  was  simply  the  right  of  a  sovereign  to  withdraw  from 
a  compact,  to  secede  from  a  confederation  to  whom  certain  rights 
had  been  granted,  the  reply  would  always  be  the  same,  "  I  find 
no  such  right  laid  down  in  the  Constitution." 

Our  forefathers  remembered  that  all  governments  since  the 
world  began  were  built  up  by  force.  They  desired  to  build  one 
founded  on  the  affections  of  the  people.  They  wanted  a  govern- 
ment that  the  people  would  love  to  serve,  and  as  long  as  they 
loved  it,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  it  would  hold  together.  But  be- 
yond this  they  saw  nothing. 

"  Therefore,  gentlemen,"  the  President  would  say,  "  you  have 
no  right  to  secede.     But  if  you  do  secede,  I  do  not  know  that  we 

11  National  Intelligencer,  May  6,  1861. 

12  Wm.  Polk,  "  Life  of  Leonidas  Polk,"  Vol.  i,  p.  266. 

Rawle  was  used  as  a  text  in  1825-7  and  was  no  doubt  available  as  a  sup- 
plementary book  until  1861. 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS        197 

can  force  you  back  in  again.  The  Constitution  gives  us  the  power 
to  enforce  the  laws,  but  that  it  also  confers  the  broader  power  of 
forcing  states  which  have  voluntarily  entered  the  Union  to  re- 
main, I  cannot  say."  12a 

Anyone  who  follows  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  men  of  1789 
cannot  but  see  the  correctness  of  this  opinion.  On  the  other 
hand,  Buchanan  saw  the  possibility  that  the  North  would  not  be 
minded  to  let  the  South  go,  and  might  try  to  hold  the  South  by 
force,  with  a  resulting  war  that  would  destroy  the  whole  fabric 
and  theory  of  Union.  Hence,  his  zealous  desire  to  settle  the 
crisis  without  resort  to  war.13  Only  by  peace  and  by  mutual 
compromise  and  guarantees  could  the  wonderful  political  struc- 
ture based  upon  consent  of  the  governed  be  preserved.1321  The 
United  States  was  a  great  experiment  in  the  history  of  modern 
States,  a  great  league  based  upon  the  voluntary  consent  of  its 
members.  It  was  an  earnest  devotion  to  this  great  and  noble 
attempt  in  the  field  of  political  science  that  led  Buchanan  to  strive 
to  uphold  it  midst  the  tidal  wave  of  sectional  hatreds.  No  wonder 
then  he  was  firmly  convinced  that  the  Union  could  not  sustain 
the  shock  of  internal  strife  among  its  component  parts.  Such  a 
strife  would  in  itself  denote  that  its  life-giving  spirit  had  expired. 
In  this  sense  Buchanan  was  the  last  President  of  that  Union  of 
the  ante-bellum  era.  The  Union  was  not  restored  until  the  Ad- 
ministration of  Hayes,  and  then  it  was  not  the  same,  since  the 
theory  of  the  old  system  had  passed  away.  The  experiment  of 
1789  had  been  crushed. 

12a  Philadelphia  Press,  after  Burr's  article  in  Black  in  1883,  abridged 
from  an  article  in  the  Appeal  published  at  Memphis,  Tenn. 

13  Just  after  resigning,  Thompson  wrote  Cobb  (A.  H.  A.,  191 1,  Vol.  II, 
P-  533)  : 

..."  The  President  still  adheres  to  his  position  that  he  has  no  power  of 
coercion  but  he  has  a  most  curious  idea  that  enforcing  the  laws  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet  is  not  coercion.  .  .  ." 

This  attitude  was  not  inconsistent  with  his  idea  that  Secession  was  a 
nullity,  and  was  in  harmony  with  his  policy  of  defense  and  not  aggression. 
Personally  I  have  in  another  place  expressed  my  disagreement  with  this 
idea  as  being  the  more  desirable  one  for  the  time. 

13a  Neither  was  the  theory  inconsistent  with  his  attitude  after  the  fall  of 
Sumter.     In  that  case  he  held  that  war  was  begun  by  an  attack  against 
property  belonging  to  the  Federal  Government.     He  had  warned  the  South 
Carolinians  of  the  effects  of  such  an  act  while  he  was  still  President. 
14 


198         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

The  other  and  more  vital  trait  of  Buchanan's  psychology  was 
his  religious  nature.  No  President  of  the  United  States  was 
ever  more  religious  than  he.  Rejoicing  in  tolerance, — he  was 
even  willing  to  send  his  niece  to  a  Catholic  school, — he  subjected 
himself  to  the  most  severe  religious  introspection.  As  early  as 
1844  he  wrote  to  his  clerical  brother: 

I  am  a  believer  but  not  with  that  degree  of  firmness  of  faith 
calculated  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  over  my  conduct. 
I  ought  constantly  to  pray  "  help  thou  my  unbelief  "  /  think 
often  and  I  think  seriously  of  my  latter  end;  13b  but  when  I  pray 
(and  I  have  preserved,  and  with  the  blessing  of  God  shall  preserve, 
this  good  habit  from  my  parents)  I  can  rarely  keep  my  mind 
from  wandering.  I  trust  that  the  Almighty  Father  through  the 
merits  and  atonement  of  His  Son  will  yet  vouchsafe  me  a  clear 
and  stronger  faith  than  I  possess.  In  the  meantime  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  do  my  duty  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 

All  his  life  14  he  was  a  church  going,  prayerful,  Bible-reading 
man.  He  believed  that  religion  should  manifest  itself  in  good 
works,  and  quietly  gave  aid  to  the  unfortunate.  While  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  a  fatalist,  he  yet  did  not  believe  in  all  the  Presby- 
terian tenets  of  predestination,  and  would  have  joined  the  Re- 
formed Church  because  of  the  less  severe  Heidelberg  catechism 
had  not  the  elders  told  him  his  complete  adherence  would  not  be 
required.145* 

In  this  study  repeated  citations  have  indicated  the  fact  that  Bu- 
chanan was  aware  that  he  was  nearing  life's  inevitable  close. 
His  vitality  was  great,  and  he  survived  his  term  of  office  some 
eight  years,  but  this  was  probably  longer  than  he  had  anticipated. 
He  was  never  a  cruel  man  and  very  seldom  a  vindicative  one. 
This  religious-humane  nature  developed  the  natural  idea  that  a 
"  Brothers'  War  "  was  a  crime, — a  public  murder.  And  Bu- 
chanan consequently  made  up  his  mind  he  would  rather  die  than 
be  guilty  of  the  blood  of  his  countrymen  shed  in  civil  strife.     If 

13b  Italics  mine. 

14  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  pp.  678-679;  also  Maury,  "Statesmen  of  America  in 
1846,"  published  1847,  pp.  15-16. 

14a  \\r.  Rush  Gillan,  "  James  Buchanan,"  Paper  read  before  the  Kittoch- 
tiney  Historical  Society  of  Franklin  County,  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  1900,  pp. 
21,  22. 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS       199 

they  started  it,  he  was  free  to  defend,  but  the  shedding  of  blood, 
he  foresaw,  meant  a  terrible  war  fatal  to  Union, — an  act  which 
he,  above  all  others,  was  determined  not  to  commit.  This  fact 
comes  out  publicly  and  clearly  in  his  proclamation  for  a  day  of 
Prayer,  which  is  like  a  text  for  his  policy : 

Let  us  implore  him  .  .  .  and  above  all  to  save  us  from  the 
horrors  of  civil  war  and  blood  guiltiness. 

A  more  detailed  statement  of  his  determined  policy  appears  in 
his  message  of  January  8th  : 15 

At  the  beginning  of  these  unhappy  troubles  I  determined  that 
no  act  of  mine  should  increase  the  excitement  in  either  section  of 
the  country.  If  the  political  conflict  were  to  end  in  civil  war,  it 
was  my  determined  purpose  not  to  commence  it  or  even  to  furnish 
an  excuse  for  it  by  any  act  of  this  government.  My  opinions  re- 
main unchanged,  that  justice  as  well  as  sound  policy  requires  us 
to  seek  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  questions  at  issue  between  the 
North  and  the  South. 

In  later  years,  it  was  his  great  solace,  that  he  had  done  all  he 
could  to  preserve  the  peace.  Certainly  no  man  could  have  felt 
more  earnestly  the  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  country,  nor 
striven  more  earnestly  to  save  it  from  destruction. 

With  certain  fundamental  political  ideas  which  had  been  the 
result  of  years  of  reflection  and  matured  conviction,  with  a  cer- 
tain concept  of  public  duty  growing  out  of  religious  ideas  held 
since  childhood,  it  was  psychologically  impossible  for  Buchanan 
to  tread  any  other  path. 

Since  the  Civil  War,  nationalists  have  by  diverse  ways  tried  to 
undermine  the  theories  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  Except  to 
partisans,  such  attempts  have  but  little  value.  There  were  repre- 
sentations of  both  parties  in  the  convention  that  planned,  and 
those  later  that  ratified  the  Constitution.  While  some  States  ac- 
cepted the  instrument,  they  rejected  the  philosophy  of  national- 
ism by  the  manner  of  their  ratification.  Secession  was  always 
able  to  hold  its  own  from  the  beginning  as  a  Constitution  dogma. 
It  is  plainer  still  that  the  Fathers  had  no  intention  of  coercing  a 
State  in  the  mass.  Had  they  read  into  the  right  to  coerce  indi- 
viduals the  broad  construction  applied  in  1861,  the  Constitution 

15  Curtis,  Vol.  II,  p.  435. 


200         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

would  never  have  been  ratified.  In  defiance  of  Mr.  Madison,  the 
State  of  New  York  practically  gave  conditional  ratification  to  the 
new  scheme.  The  dread  of  the  Fathers  of  civil  war,  their  dread 
of  despotism,  their  wish  to  found  a  Union  on  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  and  the  great  force  of  State  jealousy  made  a  nation- 
alistic idea,  except  to  the  very  few,  impossible. 

The  fanaticism,  the  commercial  greed,  which  wanted  to  use 
the  wealth  of  the  South  by  holding  her  in  the  Union,  together 
with  the  foolish  exaltation  of  slavery  by  Southern  radicals,  coupled 
with  the  pride  and  the  hot  temper  of  the  South,  brought  about  a 
wild  insanity  which,  through  the  course  of  peculiar  events,  led  to 
the  overthrow  of  sane  advice,  and  plunged  the  Union  into  de- 
struction. 

The  fact  that  the  North  finally  decided  to  support  Lincoln's 
government  does  not  state  the  whole  case.  Many  Democrats  and 
border-State  men,  who  would  have  refused  to  have  abetted  ag- 
gressive measures  looking  to  a  military  invasion  of  a  State,  and 
who  were  working  night  and  day  to  keep  the  peace,  felt  that  all 
was  in  vain  after  the  South  Carolinians  fired  on  Fort  Sumter. 
The  South  has  always  held  that  Lincoln's  act  of  sending  rein- 
forcements was  the  first  act  of  war,  and  that  they  had  a  right  to 
repel  it.  History,  however,  shows  that  while  people  sometimes 
have  undoubted  rights,  it  is  sometimes  advantageous  to  forego 
their  exercise  to  secure  more  lasting  benefits  in  the  longer  course 
of  events.  The  Republicans  were  in  no  condition  to  push  matters 
to  conclusions,  and  the  hope  for  suitable  compromise  and  pre- 
servation had  by  no  means  perished.  The  psychological  reac- 
tion drove  the  North  towards  War,  just  as  Buchanan  had  told  the 
South  it  would,  and  thus  hope  of  peace  and  conciliation  vanished. 

The  Civil  War  was  a  great  misfortune  to  the  country.  The 
finely  balanced  machine  set  up  in  1789  was  wrecked.  The  new 
creation  was  only  the  same  by  courtesy  of  legal  dicta,  because  it 
gave  ear  to  new  political  theories  and  sought  after  the  glitter  of 
the  new  economic  prosperity.  The  marked  legal  gains  to  the 
negro  race  were  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  new  chaining  of  both 
races  to  a  new  economic  order  that  was  still  more  destructive  of 
Jeffersonian  political  liberty,  and  from  which  the  pretended  relief 
is  the  still  more  binding  chain  of  a  despotic  prolitariat. 


SOME  SALIENT  POINTS  AND  CONCLUSIONS       201 

The  trouble  lies  in  the  belief  that  material  comfort  is  the  only 
element  of  happiness.  Commercialism  is  the  despot  of  present- 
day  America.  This  has  led  to  centralization  of  everything,  in- 
cluding the  Government.  America  must  learn  the  ideals  of  local 
self-determination  all  over,  and  also  learn  that  the  satisfactions  of 
philosophy,  art,  political  science,  and  religion  are  as  interesting 
and  worth  while  as  those  of  commerce  and  increased  production. 
The  "  Deserted  Village,"  and  "  The  Old  Homestead  "  must  be 
restored. 

The  fall  of  States  Rights  is  as  much  due  to  the  States  them- 
selves as  to  the  grasping  of  the  central  government.  Brought  up 
to  hold  the  States  in  terms  of  political  contempt,  modern  legislators 
have  sought  to  avoid  their  responsibilities,  and  secure  quiet  tenure 
of  office  by  passing  duties  and  problems  to  the  central  Govern- 
ment that  they  should  have  solved  themselves.  Let  us  hope  that 
a  new  day  is  not  far  distant.  In  the  meantime  there  is  the  op- 
portunity to  deal  more  gently  with  the  statesmen  of  yesterday. 

The  inevitable  animosities  of  Civil  War  have,  and  will  yet  for 
a  generation,  prevent  the  Northern  Democrats  from  receiving 
their  place  in  history.  Eminent  among  this  group  stands  James 
Buchanan.  His  intellect  was  of  that  profound  type,  equal  to  the 
best  of  his  day,  yet  so  clothed  by  a  conservative  temperament  that 
he  has  received  less  pages  in  text  books  than  some  of  his  more 
spectacular  contemporaries.  Yet  that  same  canny  intellect  made 
him  rank  among  our  ablest  diplomats  of  his  age,  and  made  him 
one  of  the  most  astute  political  leaders  our  democracy  has  yet 
produced.  His  thoroughness  and  tireless  industry  made  him  one 
of  the  best  of  public  functionaries ;  as  a  citizen  he  was  a  model 
of  virtue;  as  a  statesman  he  made  duty  his  guiding  star.  His 
was  a  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the  Constitution  as  he  under- 
stood it.  His  attitude  toward  the  people  of  the  South  was  but 
the  natural  result  of  thirty  years  of  friendly  association.  Peace- 
ful by  nature  as  Jefferson,  and  with  a  devotion  to  the  Union  like 
that  of  Webster,  he  sacrificed  his  political  reputation,  and  at 
times  risked  personal  danger  to  avert  a  needless  and  heartless 
"  Brothers'  War  "  followed  by  a  cruel  reconstruction.  For  this 
policy  of  self-abnegation,  dictated  by  a  sense  of  religious  obliga- 
tion to  his  fellowmen,  James  Buchanan  is  entitled  to  a  generous 
judgment  at  the  hands  of  a  generous  people. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A.    Unpublished  Manuscript  Collections 

Robert  Anderson  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Jeremiah  S.  Black  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Buchanan  MSS.,  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

Buchanan  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Buchanan-Johnston  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

William  W.  Corcoran  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Lewis  S.  Coryell  MSS.,  Historical  Society  of   Pennsylvania. 

Cralle  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Samuel  W.  Crawford  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Crittenden  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Andrew  J.  Donaldson,  L.  of  C. 

Dreer  Collection  MSS.,  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

Joseph  Holt  MSS.,  L  of  C. 

Horatio  King  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Franklin  Pierce  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Edwin  M.  Stanton  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Martin  Van  Buren  MSS.,  L.  of  C. 

Henry  A.  Wise  MSS.,  State  Library,  Richmond,  Virginia. 

B.    Published  Personalia 

Essays  and  Speeches  of  Jeremiah  Sullivan  Black,  Chauncy  F.  Black,  ed., 

New  York,  1885. 
The  Works  of  James   Buchanan,  John   Bassett  Moore,  ed.,   Philadelphia, 

1908-10. 
Works  of  John  Calhoun,  1854. 

Jefferson  Davis,  Constitutionalist,  Rowland  Dunbar,  ed.,  New  York,  1923. 
Correspondence  of  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter,  Charles  H.  Ambler,  ed.,  Annual 

Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1916,  Vol.  II. 
Diary  of  James  K.  Polk,  M.  M.  Quaife,  ed.,  Chicago,  1910. 
Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  J.  G.  de  Roulhac  Hamilton,  ed.,  Raleigh,  1918. 
Carl   Schurz   Correspondence,   Political   Papers,  New   York,    1913. 
Correspondence  of  Robert  Toombs,  Alexander  H.   Stephens  and  Howell 

Cobb,  U.  B.  Phillips,  ed.,  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical 

Association,  191 1,  Vol.  II. 
Diary  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  John  C.  Fitzpatrick,  ed.,  Annual  Report  of 

the  American  Historical  Association,  1918,  Vol.  II. 
Diary  of  Gideon  Wells,  Boston,  191 1. 
202 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  203 

C.    Periodicals 

i.  Newspapers: 

Alabama:  The  Confederation  (Montgomery),  Buchanan's  Clippings, 

Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
District  of  Columbia :  Washington  Chronicle,  American  Antiquarian 
Society. 
Washington    National    Intelligencer,     (daily),    American    Anti- 
quarian Society,  L.  of  C,  State  Library,  Richmond,  Virginia. 
Washington  Star,  American  Antiquarian  Society,  L.  of  C. 
Washington  Union,  American  Antiquarian  Society,  L.  of  C. 
Connecticut :  Columbia  Weekly  Register,  American  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety. 
Courant  (Hartford),  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
Louisiana:  The  Daily  True  Delta  (New  Orleans),  Buchanan's  Clip- 
pings, Historical  Society  of   Pennsylvania. 
New  Orleans  Weekly  Times,  Buchanan  Scrap  Book,  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Maryland:  The  Leader  (Baltimore),  Buchanan  Scrap  Book,  Histori- 
cal Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Massachusetts :  Boston  Post,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
New  York :  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  American  Antiqua- 
rian Society. 
New  York  Herald,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
New  York  Times,  American  Antiquarian   Society. 
New  York  Tribune,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
New   York   World,   American   Antiquarian   Society,   Buchanan's 
Scrap  Book. 
Ohio :   Cincinnati   Commercial,   American   Antiquarian   Society,   Bu- 
chanan Scrap   Book,   Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Pennsylvania:    Lancaster    Daily   Intelligencer,    Buchanan    Clippings, 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Lancaster  Monthly  Intelligencer,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
Philadelphia    Press,    American    Antiquarian    Society,    Historical 

Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  Press    (York),   Buchanan   Scrap   Book,  Historical   Society 
of  Pennsylvania. 
Virginia :  Alexandria  Gazette,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 

Richmond   Enquirer,   American   Antiquarian   Society,   L.   of   C, 
State  Library,  Richmond,  Virginia. 
2.  Newspaper  Clippings: 

Scrap  Books  on  the  Civil  War,  chiefly  New  York  World  and  New 

England  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
File  of   Biographical   Clippings,   American  Antiquarian  Society. 


204        JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Clippings  collected  by  Buchanan  and  relatives,  Historical  Society  of 

Pennsylvania. 
Scrap   Book,  Buchanan  MSS.,  Historical   Society  of  Pennsylvania. 
Clippings  in  Meigs'  Diary,  L.  of  C. 
3.  Magazines: 

Americana. 

American  Historical  Review. 

Atlantic  Monthly  (Vol.  XIV). 

Connecticut  Magazine  of  History   (Vol.  VIII). 

Kansas  Historical  Society  Reports. 

Missouri  Historical  Review    (Vol.  XVII-XVIII). 

New  York  State  Teachers'  Association  Magazine. 

North  American  Review   (1887). 

Ohio  Archaeological  and  Historical  Society. 

Outlook  (Vol.  CXXVII). 

Phrenological  Journal. 

Tyler's  Quarterly. 

Virginia  Magazine  of  History. 

William  and  Mary  Quarterly. 

D.    Pamphlets 

1.  A   large    collection    of    miscellaneous    pamphlets    of    speeches,    political 

literature,  etc.,   among  the  Buchanan  Collection  in  the  His- 
torical Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

2.  J.  S.  Black  and  J.  O.  Broadhead.     Letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War  upon 

the  legal  liability  of  the  government  to  meet  certain  acceptances 
of  the  late  Secretary  Floyd.     Washington,  1862. 

W.  Rush  Gillan,  James  Buchanan,  Paper  read  before  the  Kittochtiney 
Historical  Society,  March  30,  1900  (Pamphlet  at  Cornell  Uni- 
versity Library).     Chambersburg,  Pa.,  1900. 

W.  A.  Harris,  The  Record  of  Fort  Sumter,  Columbia,  S.  C,  1862. 

William  Uhler  Hensel,  Attitude  of  James  Buchanan  on  the  Subject  of 
Slavery,  Lancaster,  1912. 
Mr.    Buchanan's    Administration    upon   the   Eve   of    the    Rebellion, 

Lancaster,  1912. 
James  Buchanan  as   a  Lawyer,    (Reprinted   from  the  Pennsylvania 

Law  Review),  Lancaster,  191 1. 
Religious  Character  of  James  Buchanan,  Lancaster,  1913. 

Joseph  Holt,  Treason  and  its  Treatment,  New  York,  1865.  Reply  to 
Thompson,  Speech  at  Irving  Hall,  New  York,  1861. 

King,  Memorial  pamphlet  on  Horatio  King,  (printed  by  his  son),  New 
York,  1899. 

C.  Stuart  Patterson,  Remarks  of  C.  Stuart  Patterson  in  reply  to  Blaine 
concerning  Buchanan,  1883.  Short  Answers  to  Reckless  Fabri- 
cations, 1856.     (Buchanan  Campaign  Pamphlet). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  205 

William    Henry    Trescot,    Trescot's    Narrative    (Reprinted    from    the 
American  Historical  Review,  Vol.  XIII),  Lancaster,  1908. 

E.    General  Works,  Biographies  and  Reminiscences 

(References  here  given  principally  the  works  from  which  citations 
are  made) 

Alexander,  De  Alva,  Political  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  1906. 
Alexander,    Edward    Porter,   Military    Memoirs    of    a    Confederate,    New 

York,  1907. 
Alfred,  Frank  H.,  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  Cincinnati  and  Chicago,  1868. 
Avery,  Isaac  Wheeler,  History  of  Georgia,  New  York,  1881. 
Avery,    Myrta    Lockett,    Recollections    of    Alexander    H.    Stephens,    New 

York,  1910. 

Bancroft,  George,  Life  and  Letters  of  George  Bancroft,  New  York,  1908. 

Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  R.  Underwood  Johnson  and  Clarence 
Buel,  ed.,  New  York,  1908. 

Bigelow,  John,  Retrospections  of  a  Busy  Life,  New  York,  1909. 

Blaine,  James  Gillespie,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
1886. 

Bledsoe,  Albert  Taylor,  Is  Davis  a  Traitor?  Richmond,  1907. 

Botts,  John  Minor,  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion,  New  York,  1866. 

Boutwell,  George  Sewall,  Reminiscences  of  Sixty  Years  in  Public  Affairs, 
New  York,  1902. 

Boykin,  Samuel,  Life  of  Howell  Cobb,  New  York,  1870. 

Boyle,  Joseph  B.,  In  Memory  of  Edwin  McMasters  Stanton,  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  1910. 

(Probably  by  William  B.  Reed),  Life  and  Services  of  James  Buchanan, 
New  York,  1856. 

Buchanan,  James,  Buchanan's  Administration,   New  York,   1866. 

Burgess,  John  William,  The  Middle  Period,  The  Civil  War  and  the  Con- 
stitution, New  York,  1895. 

Butler,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Butler's  Book,  Boston,  1892. 

Carpenter,   Francis  Bicknell,   The   Inner  Life  of   Abraham  Lincoln,   Six 

Months  in  the  White  House,  Boston,  1879. 
Chadwick,  French  Ensor,  Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  New  York,  1907. 
Chancellor,    William    Estabrook,    Our    Presidents    and    their    Office,    New 

York,  1912. 
Claiborne,  John  Francis  H.,  Life  and  Correspondence  of  John  A.  Quitman, 

New  York,  i860. 
Clay-Clopton,  Mrs.  Virginia,  A  Belle  of  the  Fifties,  New  York,  1905. 
Clayton,  Mary  Black,  Reminiscences  of  Jeremiah  Sullivan  Black,  St.  Louis, 

1887. 
Clifford,  Philip  Greeley,  Nathan  Clifford,  Democrat,  New  York,  1922. 


206         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Coleman,  Mrs.  Mary  Butler,  Crittenden,  Life  of  J.  J.  Crittenden,  Phila- 
delphia, 1871. 

Conway,  Monane  Daniel,  Autobiography  of  Memories  and  Experiences, 
Boston,  1904. 

Corwin,  Edward  Samuel,  National  Supremacy,  New  York,  1913. 

Cox,  Samuel  Sullivan,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  1888. 

Craven,  John  J.,  Prison  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  London. 

Crawford,  Samuel  Wylie,  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,  New  York,  1887. 

Cullom,  Shelby  Moore,  Fifty  Years  of  Public  Service,  Chicago,  191 1. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  Life  of  James  Buchanan,  New  York,  1883. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States,  New 
York,  1879. 

Cutts,  James  Madison,  Constitutional  and  Party  Questions  as  Received 
Orally  from  the  late  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  New  York,  1866. 

Davis,   Jefferson,    Rise   and    Fall   of    the    Confederate    Government,    New 

York,  1881. 
Davis,  Reuben,  Recollections  of  the  Mississippi  and  Mississippians,  Boston, 

1889. 
Davis,  Mrs.  Varina,  Jefferson  Davis,  A  Memoir,  New  York,  1890. 
Dix,  Morgan,  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,  New  York,  1883. 
Doubleday,  Abner,  Forts  Sumter  and  Moultrie,  New  York,  1876. 
Draper,  John  William,  History  of  the  American  Civil  War,  New  York, 

1868. 
DuBose,  John  Witherspoon,   Life  and   Times  of  William   Louis  Yancey, 

Birmingham,  1892. 
Dunning,  William  Archibald,  Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction, 

New  York,  1892. 

Eliot,  John,  Eliot's   Debates,  Washington,   1845. 

Elliot,  E.,  Court  Circles  of  the  Republic,  Hartford,  Conn.,  1869. 

Fessenden,  Francis,  Life  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  Boston,  1907. 

Feuss,  Claude  Moore,  The  Life  of  Caleb  Cushing,  Boston,  1923. 

Field,  Maunsell  B.,  Memories  of  Many  Men  and  Some  Women,  London, 
1874. 

Fish,  Carl  Russel,  The  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage,  New  York,  1904. 

Fite,  Elmson  David,  Presidential  Campaign  of  i860,  New  York,  191 1. 

Flower,  Frank  Abial,  Edwin  McMasters  Stanton,  Autocrat  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, New  York,  1866. 

Foote,  Henry  Stuart,  Casket  of  Reminiscences,  Washington,  1874. 

Foote,  Henry  Stuart,  War  of  the  Rebellion,  New  York,  1866. 

Forney,  John,  Anecdotes  of  Public  Men,  New  York,  1873. 

Fowler,  William   Chauncy,   The   Sectional   Controversy,   New  York,   1868. 

Franklin,  Fabian,  Life  of  Daniel  Coit  Gilman,  New  York,  1910. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  207 

Gail  Hamilton  (Mary  Abigail  Dodge),  Life  of  James  G.  Blaine,  Norwich, 

Conn.,  1895. 
Garret,  William  Robertson  and  Holly,  Robert  Ambrose,  The  Civil  War 

from  a  Southern  View   Point,   Philadelphia,   1900. 
Gilhurst,  John  G.,  Life  of  Rufus  Choate,  1859. 

Gillet,  Ransom  H.,  Democracy  in  the  United  States,  New  York,  1868. 
Gorham,  George  E.,  Life  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Boston,  1899. 
Gouverneur,  Marian,  As  I  Remember,  New  York,  191 1. 
Greeley,  Horace,  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  New  York,  1868. 
Greeley,  Horace,  The  American  Conflict,  Hartford  and  Chicago,  1865. 

Halloway,  Mrs.  L.    (Carter),   Ladies  of  the  White  House,   Philadelphia, 

1881. 
Halsted,  Murat,  National  Political  Conventions  of  i860,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Hanes,  Charles  G.,  The  American  Doctrine  of  (Judicial  Supremacy,  New 

York,  1 914. 
Harris,  Alexander,  The  Political  Conflict  in  America,  New  York,  1876. 
Harris,  Alexander,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County,  Lancaster, 

1872. 
Hart,  Albert  Bushnell,  New  American  History,  New  York,  1917. 
Henry,  James   Buchanan,   Messages   of   President  Buchanan,  New  York, 

1888. 
Hinsdale,   Mary  Louise,   History  of  the  President's   Cabinet,  Ann  Arbor, 

Mich.,  1917. 
Holtz,  von,  Hermann  Edouard,  Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States, 

Chicago,  1892. 
Horton,  R.  G.,  Life  of  James  Buchanan,  New  York,  1856. 
Howe,  M.,  and  A.  W.,  Home  Letters  of  General  Sherman,  New  York. 

Irelan,  John  Robert,  Our  Presidents  and  Their  Administrations,  Vol.  XV, 
Chicago,  1888. 

Johnston,  Richard  Malcolm   (William  H.  Brown),  Life  of  Alexander  H. 

Stephens,  New  York,  1884. 
Jones,  Charles  Henry,  Life  of  J.  Glaney  Jones,  Philadelphia,  1910. 
Julian,  George  W.,  Political  Recollections,  Chicago,  1884. 

King,  Horatio,  Turning  on  the  Light,  Philadelphia,  1897. 
Konkle,  Burton  Alva,  Life  of  Chief  Justice  Ellis  Lewis,  Philadelphia,  1907. 
Konkle,  Burton  Alva,  Life  and  Speeches  of  Thomas  Williams,  Philadel- 
phia, 1905. 

Lamon,  Ward  Hill,  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Boston,  1872. 
Learned,  Henry  Barrett,  The  President's  Cabinet,  New  Haven,  1912. 
Lee,  Guy  Carrolton,  The  True  History  of  the  Civil  War,  Philadelphia,  1903. 
Lossing,  Benson  J.,  Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War,  Philadelphia,  1866. 
Lossing,  Benson  J.,  Upton,  Kennedy,  and  Others,  The  American  Nation, 
Cleveland,  1892. 


208         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Lunt,  George,  Origin  of  the  late  Civil  War,  New  York,  1866. 
Lynch,  Jeremiah,  Life  of  David  C.  Broderick,  New  York,   1911. 

MacLaughlin,  Andrew  Cunningham,  Life  of  Lewis  Cass,  New  York,  1891. 
McClure,  Alexander  Kelly,  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  Philadelphia, 

1892. 
McClure,   Alexander  Kelly,   Our   Presidents   and  How  We   Make  Them, 

New  York,  1900. 
McClure,  Alexander  Kelly,  Recollections  of  Half  a  Century,  Salem,  Mass., 

1902. 
McCullough,  Hugh,  Men  and  Measures  of  Half  a  Century,  New  York,  1888. 
McGuire,  Hon.  George  Hunter  and  Christian,  The  Confederate  Cause  and 

Conduct  in  the  War  Between  the  States,  Richmond,  Virginia,  1907. 
Mason,  Virginia,  Public  Life  of  James  M.  Mason,  New  York,  1903. 
Maury,  Sarah  Wytton,  The  Statesmen  of  America  in  1846,  London,  1847. 
Mayes,  Edward,  Life  and  Times  of  Quintus  Lucius  Cassius  Lamar,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  1896. 
Meigs,   William    Montgomery,    Development   of    the   American   Judiciary, 

New  York. 
Miller,  Marion  Mills,  American  Debate,  New  York,  1916. 
Moran,    Thomas    Francis,   The    Presidents    and    their    Individualities,    New 

York,  1917. 
Moore,  John  Bassett,  Four  Phases  of  American  Development,  Baltimore, 

1912. 
Morse,  John  T.,  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Boston,  Mass.,   1898. 
Munford,  Beverly  B.,  Virginia's  Attitude  toward  Slavery  and  Secession, 

New  York,  1917. 

Newton,  Lord,  Lord  Lyons,  London,  1913. 

Nicolay,   John  George,   and  John   Hay,   Life  of   Abraham   Lincoln,   New 

York,  1886. 
Nichols,   Roy   Francis,   The   Democratic   Machine,    1850-1854,   New   York, 
1923. 

Paxson,  Frederick,  The  Civil  War,  New  York,  191 1. 

Pierce,  Edward  Lillie,  Memoirs  and  Letters  of  Charles  Sumner,  Boston, 

1893. 
Polk,  William  M.,  Life  of  Leonidas  Polk,  New  York,  1915. 
Pollard,  Edward  A.,  Lee  and  His  Lieutenants,  New  York,  1867. 
Poore,  Benjamin  Perley,  Perley's  Reminiscences,  Philadelphia,   1886. 
Pryor,  Mrs.  Roger  A.,  Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War,  New  York,  1905. 

Randal,  Henry  Stephens,  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  New  York,  1858. 
Rhodes,  James  Ford,  History  of  the  United  States,  New  York,  1893-1920. 
Riddle,  William,  Recollections  of  War  Times,  1860-1865,  New  York,  1895. 
Riddle,  William,  The  Story  of  Lancaster,  1730,  Old  and  New  1918,  Lan- 
caster, 1918. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  209 

Savage,  John,  Living  Representative  Men,  Philadelphia,  i860. 

Schlesinger,  Arthur  Meier,  New  View  Points  on  American  History,  New 
York,  1922. 

Schurz,  Carl,  Reminiscences,  New  York,  1907. 

Scott,  James  Brown,  The  United  States  of  America,  A  Study  in  Inter- 
national Organization,  New  York,  1920. 

Scrugham,  Mary,  Peaceable  Americans  1860-1861,  New  York,  1922. 

Seward,  Frederick  W.,  Seward  at  Washington,  New  York,  1891. 

Sharpless,  Isaac,  History  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1900. 

Sheahan,  James  W.,  Life  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  i860. 

Sherman,  John,  Recollections  of  Forty  Years,  New  York,  1875. 

Singleton,  Esther,  The  Story  of  the  White  House,  New  York,  1907. 

Smith,  Theodore  Clark,  Parties  and  Slavery,  New  York,  1907. 

Spring,  Leverett  Wilson,  Kansas,  Boston,  1892. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  The  War  Between  the  States,  Philadelphia,  1880. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  Men  of  Our  Times,  Hartford  Conn.,  1868. 

Stricter,  Floyd  Benjamin,  Political  Parties  in  Michigan,  1837-1860. 

Tarbell,  Ida  M.,  Life  of  Lincoln,  New  York,  1907. 

Thompson,  Richard  W.,  Recollections  of  Sixteen  Presidents,  Indianapolis, 
1894. 

Tucker,  John  Randolph,  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Chicago,  1897. 

Tyler,  Lyon  Gardiner,  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, 1884. 

Warren,  Charles,  The  Supreme  Court  in  United  States  History,  Boston, 
1922. 

Watson,  William,  Life  in  the  Confederate  Army,  London. 

Watterson,  Henry,  Marse  Henry's  Reminiscences,  New  York,  1919. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  Autobiography,  Boston,  1884. 

White,  Horace,  Life  of  Lyman  Greenbul,  Boston,  1913. 

Wilson,  Henry,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,  Boston,  1874. 

Wilson,  Rufus  Rockwell,  Washington  the  Capitol  City,  Philadelphia,  1901. 

Windle,  Mary  J.,  Life  in  Washington  and  Life  Here  and  There,  Phila- 
delphia, 1859. 

Wise,  Henry  Alexander,  Seven  Decades  of  Union,  Philadelphia,  1876. 

Wise,  John  Sergeant,  Recollections  of  Thirteen  Presidents,  1906. 

Wise,  John  Sergeant,  The  Passing  of  an  Era,  New  York,  1899. 

Wolf,  Simon,  The  Presidents  I  Have  Known,  Washington,   1918. 

F.    Official  and  Miscellaneous 

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Appleton's  Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  New  York,   1898. 

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210         JAMES  BUCHANAN  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Genealogical  and  Personal  Memoirs  Series — Historical  Publication,  W.  R. 

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Report,  Vol.  XIV. 


INDEX 


Abolitionists,  15,  187 

Abolition,  rise  of,  103,  104 

Administration  Buchanan's,  theory 
of,  on  state  and  federal  relations, 
146 

Alabama,  arsenal  seized,  168;  asks 
for  adjustment  of  federal  claims, 
171 

Alaska,  Buchanan  and,  13 

Allegiance,  142;   Thompson  on,  117 

Amendments,  constitutional,  sug- 
gested by  Buchanan  in  i860,  146 

Anderson,  Lars,  brother  of  Major 
Anderson,  letter  of,  183,  184 

Anderson,  Major,  appointment  to 
Charleston,  155;  character,  155; 
his  role,  153;  and  South  Carolina, 
156,  181,  182;  instructions,  96,  97, 
182  note;  on  "pledge,"  157  note; 
moves  to  Sumter,  157;  effects  of 
move,  78,  153,  167;  Floyd  tele- 
graphs, 158;  upheld  by  Crittenden 
and  Scott,  184;  Black  on,  164; 
Thompson  on,  116;  return  to 
Moultrie  requested,  158;  Buchan- 
an's attitude,  165,  178,  179;  re- 
enforcements  for,  123,  185;  hailed 
a  hero,  160.  See  Charleston,  South 
Carolina  and  Sumter 

Anglo-American  relations,  Buchanan 
and,  11 

Anti-slavery  agitation,  105;  charac- 
terized by  Black,  107,  108 

Arkansas,  arsenal  seized,  172 

Army,  appropriations,  162  note 

Appleton,  John,  of  Maine,  Asst. 
Secretary  of  State,  35;  on  Walker 
in  Kansas,  50,  51 

Baker,  Joseph  B.,  Collector  of  the 
Port     at     Philadelphia,     on     Bu- 


chanan's cabinet,  125,  126;  on 
Anderson,  159,  169;  on  Gov. 
Pickens,  170 

Bates,  Joshua,  of  London,  England, 
Buchanan  to,  186,  187 

Bayard,  James  A.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Delaware),  128  note;  on  coercion, 
136  note 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Louisiana),  cautions  Floyd  con- 
cerning acceptances,  93 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  editor  of  the 
New  York  Herald,  fails  to  obtain 
an  appointment,  71,  155;  threatens 
trouble,  172  and  note 

Bigler,  William,  U.  S.  Senator  (Penn- 
sylvania), 128  note;  and  Sumter 
question,  158,  171 

Black,  Chauncy,  son  of  Jeremiah  S. 
Black,  on  "Trescot's  Narrative," 
149  note 

Black,  Jeremiah  Sullivan,  U.  S.  At- 
torney General  1857-60,  Secretary 
of  State  1860-61,  long  acquainted 
with  Buchanan,  100,  101 ;  friendship 
for  Buchanan,  115;  character,  99, 
111,113;  legal  ability  and  talents, 
100;  on  Buchanan,  5,  195;  on  Cass 
and  Buchanan,  71,  73;  on  Cobb, 
66;  on  Holt-Thompson  feud,  82, 
122;  upholds  Thompson,  116;  in 
regard  to  bond  myth,  120,  124; 
Thompson  on  Black  and  Buchanan, 
101,  on  Black,  116;  unfair  to 
Toucey,  85;  relations  with  Floyd, 
36;  in  the  Meigs  incident,  92;  and 
the  DeGroot  claim,  92  note;  up- 
holds Floyd's  acceptances  in  1862, 
93;  urges  Buchanan  against  Floyd, 
95;  declines  to  ask  Floyd  to  resign, 
95;      urges    the    appointment     of 


211 


212 


INDEX 


Stanton,  74;  warned  concerning 
Stanton,  74;  on  campaign  for  i860, 
55;  opinions  on  allegiance,  161, 
1 64 ;  the  so-called  ' '  crisis,  "111,112; 
differences  with  Buchanan,  114, 
115;  drafts  opinion  of  November 
i860,  132,  134;  opposes  proclama- 
tion, 132;  ideas  on  coercion,  131, 
135,  137,  138,  145;  on  granting 
clearance  papers,  147;  on  title  to 
forts  at  Charleston,  151 ;  considers 
resignation,  120,  154,  161 ;  inter- 
views Buchanan,  162,  163;  re- 
mains in  cabinet,  138;  desires  to 
buy  a  farm,  56;  leaves  Washington 
a  poor  man,  113;  a  Democrat 
during  the  war,  115;  attacked  by 
Baker,  replies,  126 

Blake,  Dr.  John  B.,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  37 

Bonds,  Indian,  incident  of,  155 

Border  States,  Buchanan  and,  173 

Bowen,  Levi  K.,  Maryland  politican, 
to  Buchanan,  169,  171 

Bradford,  Vincent  C,  of  Philadelphia, 
168;  wishes  forts  evacuated,  170 

Breckinridge,  John  C,  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  and  nomina- 
tion for  the  Presidency  in  i860,  36; 
asks  Floyd  to  resign,  95;  men- 
tioned, 57,  78 

"The  Brooklyn,"  112,  125;  to 
succor  Sumter,  171;  Holt  and 
Scott  substitute  the  "Star  of  the 
West,"  179 

Brown,  Aaron  V.,  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral 1857-59,  death,  80;  and  Kan- 
sas question,  84 

Brown,  George  W.,  editor,  "Herald 
of  Freedom,"  on  Walker,  24  note 

Brown,  John,  in  Kansas,  46 

Buchanan,  Miss  Annie,  niece  of  the 
President,  on  cabinet  relations,  129 

Buchanan,  James,  President  of  the 
United  States  1857-61,  parents  of 
3;     education,    4;     at    Dickinson 


College,  4;  characteristics,  4;  hon- 
esty, 5;  diplomatic  talent,  10,  11, 
191 ;  conversational  powers,  11; 
speaker,  13;  determination,  37,  38; 
tenacious  of  opinions,  37 ;  industry, 
37,  114;  carefulness,  132;  courte- 
ous, 144;  a  courtier,  191 ;  tact,  36; 
religious  nature,  62,  160,  198;  im- 
partiality, 132;  consistency,  114; 
conservative,  101,  102;  craft,  126; 
philanthropic,  135;  defies  popular 
opinion,  186;  a  gentleman,  191; 
lover  of  peace,  186,  201;  fatalistic, 
198;  abnegates  self,  201;  humane, 
198;  wealthy,  192;  physical  char- 
acteristics :  vision,  191;  health, 
113,  114,  161;  attire,  113,  114; 
mind,  4;  studies,  4;  studies  law,  5; 
defends  the  25th  section  of  the 
Judiciary  Act,  6;  a  political  leader, 
6,  7;  Secretary  of  State,  7;  causes 
for  nomination  of,  in  1856,  8,  9; 
attitude  towards  nomination,  8,  9; 
troubles  with  patronage,  9  note; 
diplomatic  career,  10;  aids  Anglo- 
American  amity,  1 1 ;  Far  Eastern 
policy,  11,  12;  Mexican  policy,  13; 
would  buy  Alaska,  13;  as  a  speaker, 
13;  as  legislator,  13;  defends 
Southern  Constitutional  rights,  14, 
18,  19;  attitude  on  slavery,  14,  15, 
17,  19,  28;  towards  the  negro,  15; 
on  the  crisis  of  1850,  16-18;  career 
as  a  Federalist,  18;  a  Democrat 
during  the  war,  20;  foresees  trouble 
in  the  territories,  22;  appoints 
Robert  J.  Walker,  Governor  of 
Kansas,  22 ;  difficulties  with  Walk- 
er,  24,  25;  legal  aspects  of  his 
Kansas  policy,  26;  no  desire  for 
slavery  in  Kansas,  28;  motives  for 
his  Kansas  policy,  29,  30;  attitude 
towards  the  Dred  Scott  case,  31; 
disgusted  with  voters  of  Kansas,  32 ; 
relation  with  the  English  Bill,  34; 
admits  Kansas  as  a  free  state,  35; 


INDEX 


213 


selects  members  of  his  cabinet,  36; 
appoints  State  Rights  men,  37; 
cause  of  break  with  Douglas,  37; 
relations  with  cabinet,  37,  38; 
letters  from  Judge  Williams  con- 
cerning Kansas  conditions,  38-47; 
letters  from  Cass,  Floyd  and 
Appleton  pertaining  to  Walker,  48- 
51;  questions  Thompson  concern- 
ing "plot,"  52;  praised  by  William 
Crump  for  Kansas  policy,  53,  54; 
letters  to  Floyd,  55,  59;  letter  from 
Black,  56;  letters  from  Floyd,  57, 
58,  61;  instructions  regarding 
Harpers  Ferry,  62,  63;  relations 
with  General  Scott,  63-65;  ac- 
cepts Cobb's  resignation,  66,  67 
differs  with  Thomas  over  loan,  68 
accepts  Thomas'  resignation,  68 
displeased  with  New  York  bankers, 
69,  70;  appoints  Dix  to  Treasury 
Department,  69;  relations  with 
Dix,  69-71;  alters  message  of  i860 
to  please  Cass,  72;  attitude  to- 
wards Cass'  resignation,  72,  73; 
seeks  facts  of  the  incident,  74;  re- 
lations with  Stanton,  75-79;  crit- 
icises his  ministers,  79;  impeach- 
ment planned  by  Stanton,  80;  re- 
lations with  Holt,  80-83;  loses 
support  of  Slidell,  82;  opinion  of 
Holt,  82;  relations  with  Horatio 
King,  82-84;  attitude  towards 
the  Washington  "Constitution," 
83;  relations  with  Toucey,  84-89; 
letter  of  Toucey  to  Buchanan, 
86-88 ;  relations  with  Floyd,  89-99 ; 
attitude  towards  Floyd's  accept- 
ances, 94;  requests  Floyd's  resig- 
nation, 95;  displeased  with  Floyd, 
98;  final  estimate  of  Floyd  in  1868, 
98;  relations  with  Judge  Black, 
100-114;  reason  for  appointing 
Black,  100;  alarms  Black  in  the 
matter  of  the  South  Carolina  Com- 
missioners, 101,  102;  interviews 
15 


Black  concerning  the  note  and  his 
intended  resignation,  no;  urges 
him  to  remain  in  the  cabinet,  no; 
requests  Black  to  alter  the  note, 
in;  has  three  successive  calami- 
ties, no;  advised  by  Black,  112; 
differs  with  Black,  114,  115;  friend- 
ship with  Black,  114;  with  Thomp- 
son, 115;  on  resignation  of  Cass 
according  to  Thompson,  118;  pol- 
icy of,  reviewed  by  Thompson,  118; 
criticised  by  Thompson  for  sending 
the  "Star  of  the  West,"  121;  re- 
enforcements  to  Sumter,  123,  124; 
holds  Northern  members  in  cabinet 
after  December  i860,  125;  attitude 
towards  cabinet,  125-127,  129; 
writes  his  own  drafts,  126  note;  at- 
titude towards  leaders  of  the  Sen- 
ate, 127;  relations  with  Davis,  127; 
severs  relations  with  Southern  Sen- 
ators, 128;  importuned  by  them, 
128;  criticised  by  Davis,  128  note; 
consults  Floyd  on  situation  Novem- 
ber i860,  130,  133,  135;  consults 
with  cabinet,  131;  suggests  con- 
vention of  states,  131;  consults 
Black  on  the  matter  of  a  proclama- 
tion, 132,  133;  cites  Rawle,  132; 
not  satisfied  with  Black's  opinion; 
would  be  a  daysman;  requests 
Black  to  redraft  opinion,  133;  con- 
sults Davis,  135,  136;  looks  to  a 
peaceful  solution  of  difficulties,  136, 
137;  talks  with  King,  137  note; 
reviews  constitutional  debates  with 
Thompson,  138,  139;  refutes 
Black's  argument  for  coercion, 
138;  discusses  the  situation  with 
Trescot,  139  note,  140  note; 
message  of  i860,  140-146;  holds 
war  inexpedient,  145;  theory  of  the 
administration  analyzed,  146,  147; 
effects  of  the  message,  147;  com- 
pared with  Jackson,  147  note,  148 
note;    apprehensive  over  situation 


214 


INDEX 


at  Charleston,  149;  discusses  the 
matter  with  Floyd,  150;  threats  of 
ministers  denied  by  Holt,  150  note; 
discusses  status  of  forts,  151;  ac- 
cepts Black's  views  on  title,  151, 
152;  reasons  for  his  policy,  152; 
sends  Cushing  to  Charleston,  153; 
question  of  a  pledge,  152,  153;  pre- 
pares answer  to  Senators  concern- 
ing Mission  of  Hayne,  154;  effect 
of  Cass'  resignation  and  Black's 
attitude  on  his  policy  regarding 
the  forts,  154;  is  notified  of  the 
secession  of  S.  C,  154;  denies  he 
is  insane,  155;  replies  to  Gov. 
Pickens,  155;  ignorant  of  instruc- 
tions to  Anderson,  157;  attitude 
towards  Anderson's  move,  158; 
convenes  cabinet,  158;  annoyed  by 
them,  1 59 ;  urged  by  the  S.  C.  Com- 
missioners, 159;  weighs  opinion  on 
Sumter  question,  160;  is  the  object 
of  friendly  propaganda,  160;  crit- 
icised, 161;  reads  draft  to  Com- 
missioners, 161 ;  interview  with 
Black,  161,  163;  reason  for  policy, 
163;  not  for  secession,  163;  final 
reply  to  Commisioners,  164,  165; 
refuses  to  reconsider  policy,  165; 
rumors  of  assassination,  166;  plot 
to  abduct,  166  note;  devotion  to 
the  Union,  166  note;  "Star  of  the 
West"  sent  to  Sumter,  167;  effects 
of  Anderson's  move  reviewed,  167; 
remarks  on  letter  of  the  Governor 
of  New  York  on  the  matter  of 
military  aid,  169;  letters  of  ap- 
proval to,  170,  172;  extracts  of 
letters  to,  164-172;  offers  A.  B. 
Greenwood,  Head  of  Interior  De- 
partment, 172;  prospects  in  Janu- 
ary 1861,  173,  174;  takes  defensive 
attitude,  177;  coldness  of  Southern 
leaders,  177;  reviews  and  defends 
his  policy  to  Holt,  177-179;  first 
draft  of  an  answer  to  requests  of 


Hayne,  180;  expects  Anderson  to 
protect  himself,  182;  favors  Peace 
Convention,  184-186;  questions 
Holt  concerning  orders  to  forts,  184, 
185;  refuses  to  see  a  Confederate 
Commissioner,  185  note;  orders 
troops  to  Washington,  185;  dis- 
pleased with  the  South,  186;  with- 
stands Northern  radical  opinion, 
186;  complains  of  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  South,  186;  reviews 
his  policy  to  Bates,  186,  187;  de- 
fends Northern  Democrats,  187; 
would  give  South  her  constitutional 
rights  in  the  Union,  187;  at  the 
Inauguration  of  Lincoln,  188;  re- 
turn to  Wheatland,  188;  attitude 
during  the  war,  190;  retrospect  of 
his  policy,  190,  191;  characteris- 
tics reviewed,  191;  economic  ideas 
and  the  war,  192;  idea  of  a  "state 
of  nature,"  193;  on  the  spheres  of 
government,  194;  on  the  mission 
of  the  Democracy,  195;  on  the 
Federal  compact,  195;  on  coercive 
power  of  the  Constitution,  197; 
faith  and  creed  of,  198;  considers 
the  war  a  crime,  198,  199;  seeks 
peaceful  solution  of  country's 
troubles,  199;  services  of,  reviewed, 
201 

Buckalew,  Mr.,  United  States  Minis- 
ter to  Ecuador,  Black  to,  112 

Buell,  General,  receives  oral  orders  to 
Anderson,  96,  97;  disagrees  with 
Floyd  concerning  content  of  the 
orders,  158 

Burr,  Col.  Frank,  correspondent  of 
the  Philadelphia  Press,  admirer  of 
Black,  100,  139 

Cabinet,  appointments  discussed,  35- 
37;  Buchanan's  attitude  towards, 
37 ;  comments  on  Walker  in  Kansas, 
48-52;  accounts  of  their  services, 
66;  attitude  of,  towards  Floyd,  95; 


INDEX 


215 


approves  Judge  Woodward's  letter, 
109;  "cabinet  crisis"  really 
"Black's  crisis,"  III,  112;  con- 
flicting accounts  of,  124;  myth  of 
cabinet  regency,  125;  myth  of  a 
crisis,  125;  meeting  of,  Nov.  9, 
i860,  131;  Nov.  10,  i860,  Nov.  13, 
i860,  133;  other  meetings,  137, 
138;  and  draft  to  S.  C.  Commission- 
ers, 161;  votes  to  return  note  of 
S.  C.  Commissioners,  165;  vacan- 
cies difficult  to  fill,  173  note;  and 
message  of  January  8,  174.  See 
names  of  each  minister  of  the 
cabinet 

Calhoun,  John,  President  of  the  Le- 
Compton  Convention,  51,  52 

Calhoun,  John,  U.  S.  Senator  (South 
Carolina),  on  allegiance,  142;  men- 
tioned, 69,  143,  196 

Cameron,  Simon,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Pennsylvania),  104 

Campbell,  Judge,  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court,  87, 128;  criticises  Buchanan, 
160 

Campaign  of  1856,  Buchanan  sees  a 
crisis  in,  30 

Capen,  Nahum,  Postmasterat  Boston, 
93 

Cass,  Lewis,  Secretary  of  State,  1857- 
60,  appointment  of,  35;  attitude 
of  Buchanan  towards,  71;  on 
Walker,  48;  rebukes  Walker,  48; 
health  of,  59;  to  Floyd,  59,  60; 
alarmed  over  prospects  of  Seces- 
sion, 71,  72;  and  message  of 
December  1 860,  72 ;  resignation  of, 
73,  74,  117;  effect  of,  154;  wishes 
to  rescind  resignation,  72,  73,  117; 
approves  Woodward's  letter,  109 

Catron,  John,  Judge  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court,  28;  and  Dred  Scott  Case, 
30 

Charleston,  South  Carolina,  69,  85; 
Black  on,  76;  Thompson  on,  116, 
175;  Buchanan  on,  178;  Tyler's  in- 


fluence at,  183;  title  of  forts  at, 
151,  152.  See  Anderson,  Sumter 
and  South  Carolina 

Cincinnati  platform,  30 

Civil  War,  closes  an  issue,  142;  An- 
derson on  danger  of,  156;  urges 
against  war,  170;  Buchanan  would 
avert,  175;  attack  on  Sumter 
means,  180,  190;  Buchanan  on 
economic  aspects  of,  192,  holds  it  a 
crime,  198;  causes  of,  200;  effects 
of,  200 

Claiborne,  J.  F.  H.,  Secretary  of 
John  A.  Quitman,  on  English  Bill, 
34 

Clay,  Clement  C,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Alabama),  asks  recognition  of 
Alabama,  171 

Clay,  Henry,  U.  S.  Senator  (Ken- 
tucky), 13 

Clayton,  Mary  Black,  daughter  of 
Judge  Black,  on  health  of  Black, 
113 

Clifford,  Nathan,  of  Maine,  Judge  U. 
S.  Supreme  Court,  36 

Clingman,  Thomas  L.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(North  Carolina),  statements  of, 
corrected  by  Thompson,  118,  119 

Cobb,  Howell,  Secretary  of  Treasury 
1 857-1 860,  appointment  of,  35; 
character  of,  66;  attitude  towards 
Buchanan,  67;  and  finances,  68 
note;  approves  Judge  Woodward's 
letter,  109;  concerning  the  cabinet, 
126;  attitude  on  message  of  De- 
cember i860, 67,133,  141;  resigns,  67 

Coercion,  Thompson  on,  117;  Cass 
on,  131;  cabinet  on,  131;  Black 
and,  145;  Congress  and,  143;  dis- 
cussed, 145-147;  vain  if  attempted, 
170;  Buchanan  opposed  to,  196; 
changes,  197  note;  discussed  by 
Black,  134,  135,  137;  Bayard  and, 
136;  South  and,  138;  repudiated 
by  Buchanan,  138;  discussed,  139; 
Buchanan  opposed  to,  180 


216 


INDEX 


Commissioners,  South  Carolina,  a 
factor  in  Floyd's  resignation,  96; 
reply  to,  161,  173;  Black  and  reply, 
no,  162;  Stanton  and  reply,  162; 
Thompson  on,  116;  arrive  in  Wash- 
ington, 158;  present  note,  159; 
protest  to  Buchanan,  165;  letter 
returned,  165;  departure  of,  166. 
See  Anderson,  Sumter,  Charleston 
and  Pickens 

Compromise  of  1850,  29 

Compact,  Federal,  violated  by  the 
North,  195 

Confederacy,  The  United  States,  1, 
131 

Confederacy,  Southern,  196 

Confederation,  Articles  of,  cited  by 
Buchanan,  142;   perpetual,  146 

Congress,  61 ;  Buchanan's  message  of 
December  i860  and,  118,  130,  140- 
146;  refuses  army  bill,  162  note; 
distrusted  by  Buchanan,  163;  alone 
has  power  to  change  status  of 
forts  at  Charleston,  181 ;  Buchanan 
urges  Peace  Convention  on,  183 

Constitution,  federal,  54;  and  co- 
ercion, 137,  138,  139,  199 

Convention  of  States,  suggested  by 
Buchanan,  131;  cabinet  and,  131; 
Judges  Woodward  and  Lewis  on, 
132 

Corwin,  Edward  Samuel,  professor, 
criticises  Democratic  doctrines,  134 
note 

Crawford,  Samuel  Wylie,  author,  on 
Black  and  Floyd,  96;  on  Commis- 
sioners and  Buchanan,  185  note 

Curtis,  George  T.,  lawyer  and  author, 
on  message  of  December,  i860  140 

Cushing,  Caleb,  statesman,  Buchanan 
sends,  to  South  Carolina,  153  and 
note,   128  note 

Davis,  Jefferson,  U.  S.  Senator  (Mis- 
sissippi), replies  to  arguments  of 
Black,    102;    criticises   Buchanan, 


128  note,  129  note;  requested  to 
come  to  Washington,  135;  opposes 
Buchanan's  message  of  December, 
136;  on  the  supreme  law  clause, 
141 ;  fails  to  persuade  Buchanan  to 
remove  troops  from  Sumter,  151; 
interviews  Buchanan  over  Sumter, 
158;  a  secessionist,  196 

DeGroot,  claim,  and  Floyd,  36,  92 
note 

Democrats,  and  Kansas,  27 ;  and  Le- 
Compton  constitution,  33;  in  de- 
cline, 104,  105;  coercion  fatal  to, 
170;  lose  Pennsylvania,  i860; 
alienated  by  the  South,  187; 
Buchanan  on  mission  of,  after  the 
Civil  War,  195;  led  into  the  war,  200 

Democracy,  193 

Denver,  Governor  of  Kansas  Terri- 
tory, policy  of,  28,  35,  44 

DePhillips,  Mr.,  of  Philadelphia,  to 
Buchanan,  168 

Dickinson  College,  attended  by  Bu- 
chanan, 193 

Dickinson  Daniel  S.,  Leader  of  the 
Hunker  Democracy  of  New  York, 
discusses  Kansas  situation,  32 

Dix,  John  A.,  Secretary  of  Treasury 
1861,  reasons  for  appointment,  69; 
accepts  Treasury  appointment,  70; 
opinions  of  Buchanan,  70,  71; 
his  famous  telegram,  71;  relations 
with  editor  Bennett,  71;  becomes 
anti-Southern,  71 ;  on  the  Holt- 
Thompson  feud,  82;  letter  to 
Black,  122;  letter  of  King  to,  137 
note 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Illinois),  and  Kansas,  33;  and  the 
English  Bill,  34;  effects  of  his 
policy,  34,  35;  signs  of  break  with 
Buchanan  before  Kansas  trouble, 
37;  friends  opposed  by  Slidell  for 
Buchanan's  cabinet,  36;  Floyd  on, 
62;  supporters  in  Pennsylvania  in 
i860,  104 


INDEX 


217 


Dred  Scott  decision,  30;  effect  on 
slavery,  31;  on  Republicans,  32 

Drinkard,  Col.,  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, 59,  93 

Election  of  i860,  130;   Buchanan  dis- 
cusses, 141;  holds  no  cause  for  se- 
cession, 144;  effects  of,  65 
England,  attitude  towards  U.  S.,  187 
English     Bill,     nature    of,     33,     34; 
Yancey  on,  34;    Claiborne  on,  34 

Faulkner,  Charles  J.,  U.  S.  Minister 
to  France,  55 

Financial  stringency  in  New  York, 
133;  troubles  and  Anderson,  163; 
conditions  in  New  York,  1861 

Fitzpatrick,  Wm.  Benjamin,  U.  S. 
Senator  (Alabama),  179,  180 

Flinn,  William,  journalist,  letter  to 
Buchanan,  16-18 

Florida,  secedes,  170 

Floyd,  John  B.,  Secretary  of  War 
1857-60,  appointment  of,  35;  loyal 
to  Buchanan,  36;  quarrels  with 
Black,  36;  on  Buchanan's  attitude 
towards  the  South,  19;  on  Walker 
in  Kansas,  48-50;  illness,  54,  90; 
on  leave,  54,  55;  letters  of  Bu- 
chanan to,  56-57,  59;  characterized, 
89;  as  Secretary  of  War,  89; 
spurns  plot  to  abduct  Buchanan, 
89;  charges  against,  refuted,  90; 
the  matter  of  "stolen  arms,"  90; 
the  Pittsburgh  cannon  episode,  90, 
91;  dislikes  Meigs,  92;  acceptances 
issued  by,  92,  93;  and  the  DeGroot 
claim,  92  note;  leaves  Washington 
a  poor  man,  93;  acts  upheld  by 
Black  in  1862,  93;  cautioned  by 
Benjamin  against  the  issuance  of 
acceptances,  93,  94;  attitude  of 
Buchanan  concerning  acceptances, 
93i  94;  discusses  issues  of  Novem- 
ber with  Buchanan,  130,  131; 
diary     of,      130,      131;      appoints 


Anderson  to  Moultrie,  155;  in- 
structions to  Anderson,  96;  uneasy 
over  the  safety  of  the  forts,  157 
note;  sends  for  Southern  Senators, 
151;  favors  convention  of  states, 
131;  opposed  to  coercion,  151 ;  for 
forbearance,  156;  on  Anderson's 
move  to  Sumter,  97;  resigns,  97; 
held  no  secessionist,  98;  opposes 
secession  publicly,  99;  on  coercion, 
99 

Forney,  John  W.,  journalist  and  Clerk 
of  the  House,  fails  to  receive 
cabinet  post,  36 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  and  Buchanan 
compared,  12,  13 

Franklin,  Judge,  of  Pennsylvania,  de- 
fended by  Buchanan,  5 

Free-state  men  in  Kansas,  28;  decide 
to  vote,  35 

France,  and  the  South,  169 

Fund,  Indian  Trust,  120 

Gardiner,  Col.,  replaced  by  Major 
Anderson  at  Charleston,  155 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  abolitionist, 
103 

Georgia,  and  the  federal  government, 

139 

Glossbrenner,  A.  J.,  Secretary  to  the 
President,  123 

Government,  of  the  United  States, 
one  of  consent,  145,  196;  centraliza- 
tion in,  201 ;  a  unique  creation,  194 

Greenwood,  A.  B.,  of  Arkansas, 
offered  place  in  Buchanan's  cabinet, 
172,  173  note 

Gwin,  W.  M.,  U.  S.  Senator  (Cali- 
fornia), on  Douglas  and  the 
English  Bill,  34 

Hale,  John  P.,  U.  S.  Senator  (New 
Hampshire),  criticises  Buchanan, 
136 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  statesman,  on 
State  coercion,  134 


218 


INDEX 


Harding,  Warren  G.,  President  of  the 
United  States,  death  of,  114  note 
Harney,  General,  in  Kansas,  38 
Harpers  Ferry  episode,  62,  63 
Hayne,  Col.,  Commissioner  of  Gover- 
nor Pickens  (S.  C),  arrives  in 
Washington,  153,  154,  180;  Bu- 
chanan's reply  to,  180 
Herald,  New  York,  155,  172 
Historians,  opinions  of  Buchanan,  2 
Hodder,  Frank  H.,  professor,  dis- 
cusses the  English  Bill,  33,  34 
Holt,  Joseph,  Postmaster  General 
1 8  59- 1 86 1,  Secretary  of  War  1861, 
first  appointment,  35,  80,  81; 
career  of,  81 ;  feud  with  Thompson, 
121 ;  charges  against  Thompson  re- 
futed, 115  note;  hates  Thompson, 
82 ;  on  the  draft  of  the  message  of 
December  i860,  133;  opposes  con- 
vention of  states,  131;  on  Cass' 
resignation,  74  note;  on  "Black's 
crisis,"  in,  112;  on  Stanton  in  the 
cabinet,  76;  did  not  offer  resigna- 
tion, 150  note;  attitude  towards 
the  Union,  121  and  note;  changes 
ideas  concerning  events  of  1 860-1, 
84  notes;  mentioned,  86;  on  Bu- 
chanan's policy,  81,  82;  becomes 
anti-secessionist,  81;  as  Secretary 
of  War,  instructs  Anderson,  154; 
requested  to  confer  with  Buchanan, 
185;  relations  of,  with  Slidell,  81, 
82;  addressed  by  Buchanan,  167; 
effect  of  his  appointment  as  Secre- 
tary of  War  upon  the  South,  177; 
Buchanan  writes  to,  on  Sumter 
and  Scott,  177-179;  Buchanan 
drafts  Holt's  reply  to  Hayne,  180; 
Buchanan  questions  Holt  on  in- 
structions to  Fort  Monroe,  185; 
wife  dies,  113 
Houston,    General    Samuel,    desires 

troops  for  Texas,  64 
Hunker,   faction  of   New  York   De- 
mocracy, 32 


Hunter,  Robert  M.  T.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Virginia),  85;  requested  to  come  to 
Washington,  135;  and  Buchanan, 
136;  and  Sumter,  158,  165;  warns 
Trescot  to  notify  Charleston  to 
defend  itself,  165;  wishes  to  avoid 
collision,  171;  and  the  S.  C.  Com- 
missioners, 185 

Immigrant  Aid  Society,  22 
Interior    Department,    vacancy    not 
filled,  173 

Jackson,  Andrew,  President  of  the 
United  States,  compared  with 
Buchanan,  147  note,  148  note;  and 
Taney,  148  note;  leader,  7 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  President  of  the 
United  States,  142  note 

Johnson,  Albert  S.,  General,  92 

Johnson,  Andrew,  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  Stanton,  80 

Judge,  Thomas  J.,  Confederate  em- 
issary, and  federal  property,  171 

Judiciary  Act,  25th  section,  defended 
by  Buchanan,  6 

Judiciary  Committee,  Buchanan  a 
member  of,  5 

Kansas,  anti-slavery  historians  on, 
21;  Southern  attitude  towards, 
21,  22;  Walker's  policy  in,  24,  25, 
47-51;  Stanton's  policy  in,  25; 
party  struggles,  23-25;  organic  act 
of,  26;  Democratic  attitude  to- 
wards, 27;  Free-state  voters  in, 
28;  atrocities  in,  28,  38-47;  ad- 
ministration of  Governor  Denver, 
28,  29;  of  Medary,  29;  enters  the 
Union  as  a  free  state,  29;  English 
Bill  concerning,  33,  34;  rejected 
by  the  voters,  35;  conditions  at 
Fort  Scott,  38-47;  plot  on  the 
question  of  the  LeCompton  con- 
stitution denied,  52;  South  and,  on 
the  matter  of  slavery,  54;  famine 
in,  135  note.     See  LeCompton 


INDEX 


219 


Kelley,  Moses,  acts  as  Secretary  of 
Interior,  173  note 

King,  Horatio,  Postmaster  General 
1 861,  opposes  the  course  of  the 
"Constitution,"  83;  holds  an  office 
under  Lincoln,  83;  becomes  anti- 
Southern,  83;  writes  of  Buchanan, 
83,  84;  on  Buchanan's  attitude  on 
secession,  137  note 

Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  welcomes 
the  return  of  Buchanan,  188 

Lane,  Harriet,  niece  of  Buchanan, 
First  Lady  of  the  Land  during  his 
administration,  7,  8;  presides  at 
the  White  House,  191 

Lane,  Joseph,  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  i860,  58,  59 

Lane,  Jim,  anti-slavery  leader  in 
Kansas,  32,  39,  41-44 

LeCompton  convention,  23;  quarrels 
with  Walker,  24;  Calhoun  presid- 
ing officer  of,  51,  52 

LeCompton  constitution,  struggle  for 
acceptance,  26,  28,  fails,  34,  35; 
charge  of  a  plot  concerning,  denied, 
52 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  Colonel  (later  Con- 
federate General),  instructions  to, 
63;  in  same  position  as  Thompson 
on  allegiance,  117 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  President  of  the 
United  States,  103,  104;  policy  of, 
106;  Thompson  friend  of,  121; 
Buchanan  and  Lincoln's  election, 
141 ;  election  of,  and  secession,  144; 
construes  the  Militia  Acts,  144,  145; 
inauguration  of,  187;  Buchanan 
rides  with,  188,  189  and  note;  a 
mystic,  189  note;  orders  troops 
South,  200 

Longstreet,  Judge  Augustus,  of  South 
Carolina,  notified  of  expedition  to 
Charleston,  121 

"The  Lost  Cause,"  2 

Louisiana,  situation  in,  171 


Lyons,  Lord,  British  Minister  to  the 
United  States,  1 1 

Macalaster,  C.  M.,  financier,  to 
Buchanan  on  New  York  conditions, 
172 

McClure,  Alexander  Kelley,  politician 
and  editor,  on  the  content  of 
Buchanan's  first  draft  of  his  note 
to  the  S.  C.  Commissioners,  163, 164 

Madison,  James,  statesman,  and 
President  of  the  United  States, 
ideas  of,  defied,  200 

Martin,  Henry  L.,  clerk  in  the 
Department  of  Interior,  52 

Maryland,  conditions  in,  169;  politics 
in,  171 

Mallory,  U.  S.  Senator  (Florida), 
158,  179,  188 

Mason,  James  M.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Virginia),  approves  withdrawal  of 
Hayne's  note,  154;  summoned  to 
Washington,  135;  and  Buchanan, 
136 

Mason,  John  Y.,  American  Minister 
to  Paris,  18,  19 

Meigs,  Captain,  dislikes  Floyd,  92 

Message  of  December  i860  (Buchan- 
an's), 130,  131;  discussed  in  cab- 
inet, 133,  137;  review  of,  140; 
Curtis  on,  140 

Message  of  January  8,  1861  (Bu- 
chanan's), cabinet  and,  174 

Mexico,  in  i860,  147 

Militia  Acts,  Buchanan  construes, 
strictly,  144,  145 

Missouri  Compromise,  16,  22 

Moore,  John  Bassett,  Judge  and 
diplomat,  12 

Moore,  Governor,  of  Alabama,  to 
Buchanan,  168 

Mormons,  expedition  against,  92 

Morrill  tariff,  186;  Stanton  and 
Buchanan  differ  concerning,  79 

Moultrie,  Fort,  1 16;  Anderson  leaves, 
157.     See  Anderson  and  Sumter 


220 


INDEX 


Napoleon,  Louis,  Emperor  of  France, 

187 
Natural  Rights  philosophy,  discussed 

by  Buchanan,  193 
Navy.  See  Toucey 
New  England,  Buchanan  unpopular 

in,  19 
New  York,  Governor  of,  tenders  aid, 

169;  and  ratification  of  the  federal 

constitution,  200 
Non-coercion,   Buchanan   holds  doc- 
trine   of,     196;     and    the    border 

states,  173 
North,  aroused  by  the  firing  on  Fort 

Sumter,  187;    driven  to  war,  200 
North  Carolina,  visit  of  Thompson  to, 

December  i860,  119,  120 

"Old  Fogies,"  59 

Opinion,    Northern    radical,    resisted 

by  Buchanan,  186 
Oregon,  troubles  in,  64 
Orr,  James  L. ,  Speaker  of  the  House,  61 

Parker,  Col.,  Virginia  politician,  144 

Patronage,  in  1856,  9 

Peace  and  war  sentiment,  December 
i860,  147,  148 

Peace  Conference,  initiated  by  Vir- 
ginia, 182,  185  and  note 

Peck,  Judge,  impeachment  of,  5 

Pennsylvania,  Democrats  in  1856,  10; 
election  of  i860  in,  57;  politics  and 
issues  in,  8,  9 

Pensacola,  conditions  at,  171 

"Personal  Liberty  Laws,"  Buchanan's 
opinion  of,  143,  144;  repeal  of, 
asked,  170 

Pickens,  Francis,  Governor  of  South 
Carolina,  and  Col.  Hayne's  mission 
to  Washington,  153,  180;  and 
Anderson,  156,  182  and  note; 
Buchanan  replies  to,  155 

Pierce,  Franklin,  President  of  the 
United  States,  11 ;  army  bill,  162 
note. 


Pittsburgh,  cannon  incident,  155 

Polk,  James  K.,  President  of  the 
United  States,  7;   death  of,  114 

Pollard,  E.  A.,  author  and  editor,  dis- 
likes Davis  and  Buchanan,  130  note 

President,  powers  of,  Thompson  on. 
175 

Pro-slavery  group  in  Kansas,  23 

Pryor,  Roger  A.,  Congressman  and 
editor,  visited  by  Cass,  72 

Pryor,  Mrs.  Roger  A.,  notifies  Bu- 
chanan of  the  secession  of  South 
Carolina,  155;  quotes  Buchanan, 
160 

Quakers,  188 

Ramsey,  J.  G.  W.,  letter  to  Buchanan, 

170 
Ratification   of  constitutions   in   the 

South,  25 
Rawle,  Mr.,  lawyer  and  writer,  cited 

by  Buchanan,    132;    on  secession, 

195,  196 
Reconstruction,  hope  for,  expressed, 

170 
Reed,  William,  author,  lawyer,  dip- 
lomat, 11,  12 
Republicans,  and  the  Dred  Scott  case, 

32;    Buchanan  on  Kansas  and,  34; 

press  of,  makes  trouble  in  Kansas, 

39,  43,  44;   policy  criticised,  41,  43; 

solicit  sympathy  in  the  East,  42; 

lack    power,    200;     said    to    desire 

war,  168;  blamed  by  Buchanan  for 

troubles  of  the  country,   140,   148; 

said  to  be  allies  of  Buchanan,  177; 

divisions  of,  185,  186 
Resolutions,  Virginia  and  Kentucky, 

142  note 
Revolution,  Buchanan  holds  country 

in  a  state  of,  177 
Revolution  of  1789,  146 
Rhett, Barnwell,  editor  and  politician, 

on  relation  of  federal  government 

and  South  Carolina,  139 


INDEX 


221 


Richmond  Enquirer,  Floyd  article  in, 
99 

Rights,  Southern  constitutional,  sus- 
tained by  Buchanan,  14,  15,  18,  19, 
29,  31;  William  Crump  on,  53; 
Buchanan  willing  to  restore,  186 

Roosevelt,  Mrs.  Cornelia,  to  Bu- 
chanan, 168 

Russel,  Majors  &  Waddell,  con- 
tractors, 93 

Saint  Louis,  arsenal  at,  169 

Schell,  Augustus,  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  112 

Schofield,  General,  and  Stanton,  79 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  author,  influence 
on  the  South,  32 

Scrugham,  Miss  Mary,  historian, 
"Peaceable  Americans,"  cited,  147 

Seceded  states  and  the  federal  govern- 
ment, 139 

Secession,  Black  on,  102;  Judge 
Woodward  on,  105,  106;  discussed 
in  the  cabinet,  155;  and  the  title 
to  the  forts  at  Charleston,  152;  Se- 
cession of  S.  C.  announced  to  Bu- 
chanan, 155;  disagrees  with  Davis 
on,  136;  talks  with  King  concern - 
inS>  l37  note;  relation  of,  to 
Lincoln's  election,  141;  Anderson 
on,  154,  155,  156;  Buchanan  cites 
Jackson  and  Madison  on,  141 ;  holds 
it  revolution,  143;  concerned 
over,  in  1856,  144;  the  Virginia 
Resolution  and,  142  note;  Bu- 
chanan on,  135  note;  opposed  to, 
163 ;  Buchanan  advised  by  Thomp- 
son concerning,  174-176;  argued 
by  Davis,  196;  Buchanan  replies 
to  Davis,  196,  197;  Buchanan 
questions  Black  concerning,  195 

Senators,  United  States,  cabinet 
jealous  of,  127;  Buchanan  parts 
company  with  Southern,  127;  im- 
portune Buchanan,  128;  and  An- 
derson, 158;  effects  of  policy,  165 


Separation,  peaceful,  urged  by 
Thompson,  176 

Sectionalism,  Buchanan  would  de- 
stroy, 31 

Seward,  William  H.,  U.  S.  Senator 
(New  York),  13,  103;  on  Walker's 
intentions  in  Kansas,  23;  and 
Judge  Campbell,  87;  cooperates 
with  Stanton,  79;  opposes  coercion, 
148;  policy  of,  189;  suggests  call 
on  Buchanan,  177 

Sherman,  John,  Congressman,  visits 
Buchanan,  189 

Sickles,  Daniel,  Congressman,  makes 
propaganda  on  Sumter  issue,  160; 
opposes  cancellation  of  Washing- 
ton's Birthday  parade,  185 

Slave  revolts,  140  note 

Slavery,  in  the  territories,  16-18; 
Buchanan  on,  in  1826,  14;  Bu- 
chanan does  not  seek  slavery  in 
Kansas,  28;  Buchanan  on,  in  i860, 
141;  Buchanan  hopes  for  gradual 
abolition  of,  17 

Slidell,  John,  U.  S.  Senator  (Louisi- 
ana), 8;  opposed  to  Douglas,  36; 
aids  in  selection  of  Buchanan's 
cabinet,  35;  urges  the  selection  of 
Toucey,  36;  relations  with  Holt, 
81,  82;  mentioned,  126;  and 
Col.  Hayne,  154;  to  Buchanan, 
168,  171 

South,  and  the  election  of  1856,  10; 
excitement  in,  over  Kansas,  32; 
Buchanan  defends,  140;  Buchanan 
does  not  look  to  Southern  independ- 
ence, 146;  owes  Buchanan  grati- 
tude, 168;  asks  for  justice,  196; 
claims  on  Buchanan,  169;  de- 
ceived Buchanan,  112;  relations 
cool  with  Buchanan,  177,  186; 
criticised  by  Buchanan,  186;  Bu- 
chanan would  restore  rights  of,  187; 
blames  Lincoln  for  the  war,  200; 
cause  of  Buchanan's  attitude  to- 
wards, 201 


222 


INDEX 


South  Carolina,  91  note;  problem  of 
clearing  vessels  at  Charleston,  102; 
Buchanan  on  the  situation  at 
Charleston,  118;  Jackson  and,  148; 
announces  secession,  155;  situa- 
tion in  i860,  156;  federal  property 
in,  180;  warned  by  Buchanan,  197 
note 

Sovereignty,  State,  Black  on,  102; 
mentioned,  2,  18 

Spheres  of  government,  Buchanan  on, 
194 

Stanton,  Mr.,  Secretary,  and  acting 
Governor  of  Kansas,  policy  of,  25 

Stanton,  Edwin  McMasters,  Attorney 
General  of  the  United  States,  1860- 
61,  Buchanan  to,  63,  64,  66;  in- 
trigues of,  70,  79;  and  Lincoln,  79, 
80;  suggested  for  the  place  of 
Postmaster  General,  80;  character- 
ized, 74  and  note,  80;  career  prior 
to  appointment  of  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, 75;  reasons  for  appointment 
°f  1  75>  J33  note;  and  Buchanan's 
message  of  i860;  75,  133;  Weed's 
account  of,  75,  77;  Black  on,  78 
note;  Thomas  on,  77;  little  in- 
fluence with  Buchanan,  78;  and 
Black,  78;  biographers  on,  77;  and 
Anderson,  178;  and  Anderson's 
instructions,  158;  creates  propa- 
ganda on  Sumter  issue,  160;  aids 
Black  in  reply  to  S.  C.  Commis- 
sioners, no,  in,  163 

"Star  of  the  West,"  The,  sent,  167; 
Buchanan  not  responsible  for  its 
selection,  179;  causes  Thompson's 
resignation,  121,  124;  return  of,  re- 
quested, 170.     See  Sumter 

State  of  Nature,  discussed  by  Bu- 
chanan, 193 

States  Rights,  attacked,  133;  creed 
of  the  Democracy,  195;  cause  of 
decline  of,  201 ;  dominant  creed  of 
the  middle  period,  2;  men  in 
Buchanan's  cabinet,  37 


States,  place  of,  in  federal  system,  194 

Sumner,  Charles,  U.  S.  Senator  (Mas- 
sachusetts), intrigues  with  Stanton, 
79 

Sumter,  Fort,  Buchanan  and  Floyd 
discuss,  149,  150;  reinforcements 
for,  122,  123,  173;  Black  on  re- 
enforcements,  102  note;  expedition 
to,  182;  title  to,  151,  180;  and 
Cass'  resignation,  154  and  note; 
question  of  a  pledge  concerning, 
I52,  153,  157  note,  164,  165,  178, 
181;  situation  at  Charleston,  149, 
150;  Buchanan's  policy,  182,  183; 
refuses  to  surrender  forts,  155; 
orders  reinforcements,  173;  denies 
pledge,  178;  warns  S.  C.  that  an 
attack  means  war,  180;  would  send 
aid  if  needed,  181 ;  Anderson  moves 
into  Sumter,  156,  157;  effect  of,  on 
Black,  112;  effect  on  Georgia,  173; 
on  Washington,  158;  Southern 
congressmen  and,  152;  Buchanan 
urged  to  evacuate  the  fort,  170; 
relation  of  the  problem  to  the 
Peace  Convention,  183-185;  re- 
view of  Buchanan's  policy  on,  178, 
179;  effect  of  attacks  on,  on  the 
North,  187;  on  Buchanan,  197;  on 
the  Northern  Democrats,  200 

Supreme  Court,  and  slavery  in  the 
territories,  30;  and  Southern  rights, 
187 

Supreme  law  clause  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, interpretations  of,  141,  142, 
147 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  Chief  Justice  of  the 

United  States  Supreme  Court,  aids 

Jackson,  48  note 
Tariff,  170,  172,  186 
Tennessee,   conditions  in    i860,    137 

note 
Territories,  Buchanan  foresees  trouble 

in,  22 
Thomas,     Philip    F.,     Secretary    of 


INDEX 


223 


Treasury,  1 860-61,  appointment  of, 
67;  real  cause  of  resignation,  68; 
constitutional  doctrines  of,  69; 
on  Stanton  and  Buchanan,  77;  on 
Black  and  Stanton,  100;  on  the 
return  of  the  note  of  the  S.  C.  Com- 
missioners, 165;  on  the  preparation 
of  the  message  of  January  8th,  174 

Thompson,  Jacob,  Secretary  of  In- 
terior, appointment  of,  35;  on  Cass' 
resignation,  73,  74;  denies  part  in 
a  plot  concerning  LeCompton  con- 
stitution, 52;  career  as  Secretary 
of  Interior,  53;  on  appointment  of 
Holt,  80;  on  Black,.  101;  defended 
by  Black,  120;  ignorant  of  Black's 
intention  of  resignation,  78  note, 
120;  characteristics,  115;  letter  to 
S.  W.  Crawford  concerning  his 
part  in  the  cabinet,  116,  117;  un- 
popular in  the  North,  115;  on 
the  cabinet  and  Fort  Sumter,  116; 
error  in  regard  to  Stanton,  120;  a 
cooperationist,  118,  119;  visits 
North  Carolina,  118;  discusses  al- 
legiance, 117;  resignation  of,  116, 
I23»  !73;  replies  concerning  Davis' 
influence  on  Buchanan's  message  of 
i860,  133;  notices  change  in  the 
note  to  the  S.  C.  Commissioners, 
164;  discusses  non-coercion,  in- 
fluence of,  115;  favors  a  convention 
of  states,  131;  advises  Buchanan, 
174-176 

Toombs,  Robert,  U.  S.  Senator 
(Georgia),  168;  requests  informa- 
tion on  Anderson,  173 

Topeka,  government,  22,  32 

Toucey,  Isaac,  Secretary  of  Navy, 
letter  of  Buchanan  to,  22;  appoint- 
ment of,  36;  mentioned,  66;  and 
resignation  of  Cass,  74  note;  Black 
on,  112;  career  of,  84,  85 ;  not  a  se- 
cessionist, 84,  85;  favors  a  con- 
vention of  states,  131;  supports 
Buchanan's  policy  regarding  Sum- 


ter, 85,  165;  naval  policy  of,  85; 
criticised  by  Congress,  86  note; 
planned  relief  for  Sumter,  86,  87; 
discusses  same,  123;  on  draft  of 
Buchanan's  message,  133;  warns 
Buchanan  of  Black's  intention  to 
resign,  no;  called  to  conference  on 
naval  matters,  184;  a  spirited 
Democrat,  86,  88;  persecuted  dur- 
ing the  war,  88 

Toucey,  Mrs.  Isaac,  letter  to  Miss 
Lane  concerning  Buchanan,  89 

Trescot,  Wm.  H.,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State,  91,  96  note;  his  "Narra- 
tive "  evaluated,  149  note;  on 
Buchanan  and  secession,  139  note; 
on  Toombs  and  the  secession  of 
Georgia,  173;  concerning  pledge  re- 
garding Sumter,  153;  remonstrates 
with  Buchanan  on  the  move  of 
Anderson,  158,  165;  and  Hayne's 
note,  153;  telegraphs  Governor 
Pickens,  154 

Tribune,  New  York,  says  Buchanan 
is  insane,  155;  shifts  policy  to 
coercion,  173  note 

Tyler,  faction  in  Virginia,  36 

Tyler,  Lyon  G.,  historian,  on  Bu- 
chanan and  Sumter,  161 

Tyler,  John,  President  of  the  United 
States,  heads  Virginia  peace  delega- 
tion, 182;   protests  parade,  185 

Tyler,  Mrs.  John,  quoted,  182 

Union,  Federal,  17;  Buchanan  would 
save,  31;  the  Civil  War  fatal  to, 
199;  destroyed  in  1861,  197;  one 
of  consent,  145;  devotion  of  Bu- 
chanan to,  166 

Utah,  war  in,  42,  43 

Virginia,  in  1856,  9;  and  Kansas 
issue,  53,  54;  would  mediate  in 
1861,  108 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  Governor  of  Kan- 


224 


INDEX 


sas,  career  of,  22 ;  appointment  of, 
22;  not  pleased  with  Buchanan's 
appointees  in  Kansas,  23;  trouble 
with  LeCompton  group,  24;  and 
the  Oxford  returns,  24;  political 
ambitions  of,  25;  accuses  the  cabi- 
net of  plotting  against  him,  25; 
received  by  Buchanan,  25.  See 
Kansas 

War,  discussed,  199 

Washington,  George,  mentioned,  169 

Washington,  troops  at,  185  note 

Webster,  Daniel,  statesman,  men- 
tioned, 13,  201 

Weed,  Thurlow,  politician  and  jour- 
nalist, publishes  an  erroneous  ac- 
count of  a  cabinet  scene  in  Bu- 
chanan's administration,  75,  76 

Woodward,  George  W.,  Pennsylvania 
Judge,  letter  to  Black,  104-106 

West  Point,  196 

White,  Andrew  D.,  diplomat,  on 
Buchanan,  10,  11 


Wigfal,  U.  S.  Senator  (Texas),  plans 
to  abduct  Buchanan,  89 

Williams,  J.  W.,  Judge  in  Kansas, 
letters  to  Buchanan  concerning 
affairs  in  Kansas,  38-47;  opposes 
policies  of  Republicans  in  Kansas, 
42 ;  fears  civil  war,  47 

Wilmont,  David,  Congressman  and 
Senator,  opposed  by  Buchanan,  17 

Wilson,  Henry,  U.  S.  Senator  (Mas- 
sachusetts), and  the  English  Bill, 
33 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  President  of  the 
United  States,  death  of,  114  note 

Wisconsin,  fugitive  slave  case  in,  143 

Wise,  A.  Jennings,  editor,  letter  to 
Buchanan,  52;    mentioned,  177 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  political  leader,  aids 
Buchanan  in  1856,  8;  aids  in 
selecting  Buchanan's  cabinet,  35; 
mentioned,  52,  58,  59,  62 

Yulee,  U.  S.  Senator  (Florida),  158 


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